The Politico reports that John McCain’s campaign and others in the GOP think Barack Obama’s campaign is speaking in “code” as part of an attempt to highlight his age:
Obama aides deny any strategy to highlight age, and Obama, 46, himself told reporters last month that age should not be a factor. Indeed, he used to compliment McCain’s “half-century of service†to the country as a Vietnam War veteran and a member of Congress, but after McCain campaign manager Rick Davis argued that it was a sly way to inject age into the debate, Obama dropped the reference in February. ÂÂ
But a Democratic strategist not involved in the campaign, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said he sees footprints of a deliberate Obama campaign strategy.
Obama telling reporters that age should not be a factor is like telling them not to think of an elephant. And Democratic counter-grumbling about McCain’s sensitivity is a hoot, given that Obama is coming off of several months of Identity Politics-A-Palooza, fueled by the small differences between the Democratic candidates.
But Team McCain is walking into a trap if they start sounding too touchy about the issue. Making fun of the age issue on Saturday Night Live was a better way to deal with it. If they believe they have to respond to certain comments, they should at least try to inject some humor (or what passes for it in politics) into their responses. Say Obama is trying to run on the platform of “Never trust anyone over the age of 50.” Or point out that when Reagan was busy saving the free world, Obama was demanding change. Getting overly sensitive will play into the grumpy old man image that Obama is trying to paint (and it is not baseless, either).
Whaddya mean ‘not baseless’ ya punk, now GET OFF MY LAWN.
See, I think that would work, if Maverick could go over-the-top enough with the delivery.
Here’s an example of just how this will roll-out. The opinion column is from a Harriburg, PA associate editor. He limns his point about McCain’s age-based shortcomings by quoting Duncan “Atrios” Black.
Swell.
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http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/223085
tried not to laugh, but did anyway. Because I have this image of John McCain as an old man  hey you kids, get off my lawn! And his remarks last week to a group in Richmond, Va., just sort of underscored the impression that the prospective leader of the free world is, shall we say, a bit behind the curve when it comes to technology.
Gil Smart is associate editor of the Sunday News. His column, Smart Remarks, appears weekly. You can c…(more) 1 of 1
Joking about his search for a vice-presidential candidate, McCain told the group: “Well, basically, it’s a Google. You just, you know, what you can find out now on the Internet. It’s remarkable, you know.”
And it is. But back up a moment:
It’s a Google.
McCain doesn’t like it when people compare him to President Bush, but his comment brought to mind a 2006 line by The Leader, who said that he, too, uses “The Google” on occasion. It sounded exactly like something my perpetually befuddled-by-the-Internet relatives might have said. Not “I Googled it,” as someone who actually uses “the Google” would say. But “a Google,” “the Google.” That strange, menacing thing; beware the Google.
I’m sure there’s a lot of older folks out there who might take umbrage at this. It’s easy, after all, to fall a little behind the times, given the dizzying pace of change. But while that may be discombobulating, for the average American it might not be that big a deal. Plenty of people are able to get by without a computer (and might tell you they’re better off without it). Many people have never Googled anything; they’re technological Luddites. And that’s just fine.
But it might not be fine when the person in question seeks to become President of the United States.
…
The issue here is not age per se, it’s what we might call a technological generation gap. There are plenty of older folks who have evolved and adapted with the times and have at least a basic grasp of the technology. There are younger Luddites.
But a knowledge of how to work a computer, of how to find things on the Internet would seem to be a basic set of skills that everyone in positions of leadership needs to possess. Wrote Philadelphia-based blogger Duncan Black (known as Atrios), “It’s pretty much impossible to have any kind of understanding of how people in the modern world go about their lives and work” without this basic knowledge.
“How can you have any genuine sense of contemporary life unless you at least have some clue?”
Or, more succinctly: How can a candidate ill at-ease with the current era lead us safely into the future?
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Contrast that with Karl’s previous work, along with that of Geraghty, that highlights Obama’s *inability* to use “a google” to find out that his Veep Vetters guy is a Countrywide crony. Or that the other guy did not spend three minutes vetting Marc Rich’s case regarding a presidential pardon.
Or the young tech-savvy campaign that forgot to spend the extra eight bucks and get the fightthesmears.org site along with the dot com site.
Personally, I’ll vote for the guy who knows what he doesn’t know – and who has the brains to have a staff that can use “a google”.
more directly, I’d rather not have the President of the United States sorting through Penis Size Enhancement spam or fiddling around with the spam filters.
Nor do I want a President fluent in IM speak.
Personally, if Jeff took commissions I’d pay to read a series of “Tech Savvy Barack Obama’s IM-exchanges with World Leaders”
Not a lot, mind you.
Why didn’t they just skip Atrios, the bipartisan maven that he is, and just go straight to Soros, Penn, Rosie, or Sarandon?
When you talk about Baracky’s inexperience, we all know you really mean his race. Racist code words. Racists.
Wait. Are we electing someone to be national tech support or chief executive?
Philadelphia based blogger to describe Atrios?! Good fucking Allah. How about uber-partisan asshat?
Open thread. Discuss.
I think it’s time McCain put the age thing to rest. Which of the two candidates is married to a wealthy babe who is 18 years younger than he is?
For crying out loud, I learned today that Cindy McCain was a USC cheerleader! How can this guy be down in the polls?
Um, maybe most people don’t like USC?
O! The Winnie the Poop President
so, I am updating my identity politics rulebook… I see that Catholics are fair game… of course, Mormons are too. But I am sensing that old farts are not entirely off limits now? Am I getting this right? I mean can we now openly call anyone over say 70 years of edad an “old codger”… Can I call them “zombies” or “teh undead”? Should I be frightened? I thought the left was all sensi-unitey? Does this sensibility not extend to blue beards?
O! Does clueless African American violate Affirmative Action?
dre – I believe the current term for that is “disenfranchised, underprivilaged, person of African descent who would have a clue if only whitey didn’t keep all of them to himself all of the time. I believe there is a bill being championed by Chuck “IQ10” Schumer which proposes some sort of redistribution of clues beginning in 2009. It’s all the rage. Whitey will have to purchase clue-offset credits if he is found to have a “windfall” of them somewhere.
I am more concerned with youngsters who think the President of the United States is going to be sitting at a computer web surfing all day being allowed to vote.
– Obama just told the press he thinks that if we capture Bin Laden we should give him the right to protest his detention, and habeas.
– Man, when the Left digs a hole, you can hear the natives speaking Chinese.
Okay I love that McCain turned that one around on us. Very nice very nice. The dog whistle of ageism, eh. Now we can’t talk about how he predates the damned telegraph, let alone the computer without being ageists.
I think McCain should just go the Reagan route: anytime age comes up say he is not going to exploit the youth and inexperience of his opponent.
Then exploit the hell out of it.
– Lisa, personally I hold my breath every time he walks across a stage. I know that old man shuffle, I watch myself in the mirror from time to time to make sure I’m not falling into that trap.
– But really, he makes me feel like a young buck just watching him, and I’m only a couple years younger than him. But I still think he’ll win, just based on the kind of statements Obama’s forced too make to cover the tiny corner his adoring nutcase smurfettes have painted him into, and the hope he can stay out of the ICU til after the elections.
[…] Follow the link for Team McCain’s response noting that Obama didn’t have much to say when Howard Dean demanded to see Cindy McCain’s tax return. McCain has, of course, spoken out against attack ads featuring Wright, although whether that was done (a) in earnest, (b) as a token gesture to keep his own hands clean while a proxy attacked on his behalf, or (c) as a cynical maneuver to drum up even more publicity for the ad is known only to Maverick. Exit question: Is McCain more or less culpable on this point than Obama is vis-a-vis the Democrats’ coded language about McCain’s age? […]
– McCain I mean. I swear I can picture him taking the oath wearing an oxygen mask.
– Either that wife of his is screwing his brains out between speeches, or he just looks at it with a wistful sigh.
I’d rather have an old codger than a braying wet behnd the ears elitist anytime. Pass me the Geritol.
I’d pay to read a series of “Tech Savvy Barack Obama’s IM-exchanges with World Leadersâ€Â
Could it look something like:
Scarlett: Hi O!
O: Wassup?
Scarlett: whatcha doin?
O: nuttin. whatcha thinkin?
Scarlett: you know
O: why haven’t you sent me a picture of your boobs yet?
#24: Ha ha!!
Scarlett: Boobs? You mean Susan and Tim?
A few weeks ago Obama mentioned Reagan, in a positive light. I knew this was a disengenious maneuver, and now I see his biography talks about “Reagan and his minions”. Oh, I thought the fall of the Berlin Wall was Hopey and Changey, but not if there’s minions.
Dreams from my Father will be “Dummie’s Guide to Keeping Dems Off the White House” 2008 edition.
Big Bang Hunter at #16
“Obama just told the press he thinks that if we capture Bin Laden we should give him the right to protest his detention, and habeas.”
I’m sorry, but the interrogation begins only after he gets one bayonet shoved in his groin and a second bayonet shoved up his ass. And if he must be detained in a US prison, lets put him in the general population, the White Power wing.
#26
O: I don’t care what you call ’em, sweetie!
What have people got against minions, anyway?
Buncha freakin’ anti-minionist bogots.
Um. A bogot is like a bigot, only worse.
Don’t bogot that minion, my friend?
I especially like Vidalia minions.
Bumpersitckerist – I couldn’t get through that quote. It was, shall I say, repetitive. Google, google, the google, a google. Google. Google.
If that’s their idea of an attack then I say “have at it”.
Oh, and BTW (as you well know) the most reliable voting block are the seniors, and many have no clue about the internet, nor do they want to know, nor care if someone is laughing about it.