A week of immense economic upheaval in the United States driven by a financial crisis has proved illuminating in terms of analysing political campaign strategy.
Taking a leaf from military strategy John McCain has kept Senator Barack Obama off-balance, guessing whether or not he would participate in the first of four televised political debates this evening. Further McCain beat Obama to the punch in terms of 'suspending' his political campaign and travelling to Washington to play his part in trying to resolve the Congressional deadlock.
Travelling to 'save' Washington appears to be a theme - attending the 2008 Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York, the closing plenary session had former President Bill Clinton introducing Prime Minister Gordon Brown en rout to save Washington - and his own reputation in the UK. That said, if the Bretton Woods regime is about to be re-assessed it is better that Britain is there than not.
Turning to the first Presidential debate, in the aftermath the media, who are far from the partisan people we know abroad via Robert redford in "All the President's men" have leant towards a 'draw' or a win for Obama.
I personally see the outcome differently. Although the subject for the debate was foreign affairs - a strong suit for John McCain - and Obama acquitted himself well, I think the Democrat candidate failed to read enough military strategy. Obama's team failed to take the initiative or rather allowed the enemy (John McCain) to dictate the terms of the debate.
I am personally very surprised that Obama did not slant his answers towards the number one issue of concern, the economy. Instead he agreed frequently with John McCain (expect to see some web advert imminently) and appeared the junior, whilst JOhn McCain planted a succession of punches on him repeatedly "he does not understand..."
Senator Obama should, in my own opinion, have been more aggressive in turning answers back to the US economy - which people are really worried about right now.
Technorati Tags:
Democrats, Election 2008, McCain, Republican, Obama
No comments:
Post a Comment