In Search of the Beef

Without naming names, certain posters on this blog have a fairly negative view of Arizona Senator John McCain. Others, like myself, have more mixed emotions bordering on positive. But that's one of the great things about MyDogs. Yeah, you've got a couple of conservatives but we each have our own viewpoints and there are clear areas of disagreement. You've also got a couple of National League West baseball fans. It just so happens that one of us roots for the reigning National League West champions and the other roots for those scum-sucking Trolley Dodgers. So it's anything but an echo chamber here.

That said, I think even Paul will have to tip his hat to Senator McCain's actions in his recent spat with Democratic golden-boy Barack Obama. It seems that Obama disingenuously implied that McCain was attempting to slow-down the generation of new lobbying reform legislation through the creation of a bipartisan working group, rather than simply going ahead and drafting the legislation. Of course, I come from the school that thinks it would probably be prudent to take some time to study a rather complex issue (especially with almost daily revelations emerging in the Abramoff scandal) as opposed to simply drafting a quick-fix that will make the daily newscycle. Moreover, if Obama were open to a reality check, he'd probably learn that McCain has been beating the drum on ethics-, lobbying- and campaign reform for years, so the notion that he would try to de-rail it is beyond ludicrous. In fact, it's so ludicrous one might even interpret Obama's statements as grandstanding.

Apparently, that's how McCain interpreted them. Look how he responded!

"I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. . . . "I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss . . . "I understand how important the opportunity to lead your party's effort to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman Senator, and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness."

Beautiful. And completely on-point. McCain has now become the first Republican to openly attack Obama. Republicans historically have a tough time going on the political offensive against minority and female opponents due to sensitivity to age-old monolithic shibboleths about conservative anti-minority / anti-women orientations. But kudos to McCain for being the first out of the box to take on Obama. Because ever since Product Obama (TM) was launched to the fawning crowds at the Democratic Convention and the almost-universal, mesmerized sighs of network anchors, I've been asking a basic question: Where's the Beef? Yes, Obama is an intelligent and attractive man with an impressive personal history. Yes, he comes-across as even-tempered, moderate and even conciliatory at times. I can see why the Democrats are so excited about him, even if their rationale ("He's African American. And he's so well-spoken.") borders on hypocrisy given their past attacks on Republican minority candidates like Alan Keyes, Colin Powell and JC Watts. That's all fine and good. But what does Obama stand for? What does he believe in? What's his program? For what cause will he go to the mats, even if he risks being unpopular? In other words, it's clear that Obama is packaged and primed for prime-time but is he a true leader? And does he have any solutions?

Attacking Obama's grandstanding is a prudent move by McCain, because to this point no one has challenged the freshman Senator from Illinois. No one has so much as raised the point as to whether the King is actually wearing any clothes. Obama potentially presents a formidable opponent for Republicans in 2008 and / or 2012. Now is a good time to see what he's made of. It will be interesting in the days ahead to see how Obama responds and what, if any substantive progress he generates in the Senate.