The "I Know" Strategy

Hey Ryan,

You've hit the nail on the head with your take on the candidates' respective rhetorical approaches. I've been drawn to Obama's approach all along for the very reasons you cited. But McCain's was tougher for me to pin down.

I knew I didn't like the close-the-deal portions of McCain's debate performances and speeches, but I just couldn't put my finger on what bothered me, not in the way you did.

To me, every time McCain says the words "I know how to", it feels like a flashback to the playground or summer camp. You remember the kid who always said he could do stuff, only to be humiliated when it actually came time to step up.

None of us are qualified to be the President. I know I'm not. Nevertheless, most of us have mental conversations with these candidates when we hear them speak. When they debate each other, in our minds, we're in there, too, our inner voices calling back to them.

And, every time McCain says, "I know how to get bin Laden," my inner voice says, "Then why haven't you caught him?" Sure, McCain's not the President, but his party still resides in the executive branch. It's not like Repub McCain would have to go a Dem president and offer unwanted advice about catching bin Laden.

So, why hasn't he worked with his love-hate partner Bush the Junior on this task? And, if McCain truly knows the way to catch bin Laden, doesn't the fact that he hasn't shared that plan with the Bush Regime make him a traitor? Or, a terrorist sympathizer? Or, by extension a terrorist himself? So, then, is Sarah Palin the one who's actually "pallin' around with terrorists"?

I'm not making accusations here. I'm just asking. We can still do that here in the good ol' U.S. of A., right?

For the thinking voter, simply proclaiming that he knows how to do something isn't good enough. McCain needs to show that he has the complex thought process to accomplish it. He hasn't done that. This is all he has done (and it's not for minors or weak hearts):



When you think of this man and all of the bloodthirsty savages he has been rallying as of late, do you see any reason to believe him when he says he knows how to do something?

I don't.

Charles