Obama Sets Himself a High Hurdle
WEEKLY STANDARD
A candidate prone to mistakes on the campaign trail just made another, according to Lynn Sweet:
McCain denounced the North Carolina GOP party ad. "It's not the message of my campaign," he said. He wrote a letter to the state party chairman imploring them to pull the spot. The ad "degrades our civics," McCain said. The Republican National Committee also told the North Carolina party the ad was not "appropriate or helpful."
Obama, in Indiana, said he assumes if McCain "thinks that it's an inappropriate ad, that he can get them to pull it down since he's their nominee and standard bearer." The spot as I write this has not been pulled.
Does Obama really believe that a major party nominee has control over the independent expenditures of the campaign's nominal allies? First of all, the presidential campaign is legally prohibited from coordinating with independent groups that advertise for or against a presidential candidate. Second, the ad in question isn't even a presidential campaign ad; it's an ad for two gubernatorial candidates. Does Obama expect McCain to control other Republican candidates for state office?
Assuming he's the Democratic nominee, will Barack Obama hold himself to such a high standard? George Soros, the labor movement, the environmental community, the antiwar crowd, and others are sure to spend hundreds of millions against John McCain. Obama is clearly implying that if he wants to, he can serve as the filter -- deciding what's fair and what's not. If an ad hits below the belt, or is simply inaccurate, Obama will simply direct the interest group to take it off the air.
That would certainly be consistent with a new kind of candidate, who aims to bring a new style of politics. What makes me doubt he'll deliver?
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