Inside Politics

Dueling reformers

“Though they differ in many ways, John McCain and Barack Obama have one thing in common: Each sees the other as a posturing phony,” Michael Crowley writes in the New Republic.

“When McCain talks about Obama on the stump, he trades his typical graciousness for sarcasm and contempt. When McCain lectured Obama about the future of Iraq last week, he did so with what the New York Times called ‘a tone of belittlement in his voice,’ ” Mr. Crowley said.

“McCain has also called Obamamania a swindle. ‘America is not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change that promises no more than a holiday from history,’ he said in Wisconsin last month. And he has huffed that ‘I don’t seek the presidency on the presumption that I am blessed with personal greatness.’

“After Obama issued a press release last May noting that conditions were still dangerous enough in Iraq that McCain had been forced to wear a ‘flack jacket’ during a public tour of a Baghdad market, a McCain release taunted Obama for his inexperience, adding, ‘By the way, Senator Obama, it’s a “flak” jacket, not a “flack” jacket.’ For good measure, an unnamed McCain aide drove home the point to the Politico, saying that ‘Obama wouldn’t know the difference between an RPG and a bong.’

“Obama has swung back in similar, if somewhat milder, fashion. Noting that McCain had changed his position on the Bush tax cuts, Obama joked last month that ‘the Straight Talk Express lost its wheels.’ Later, he cracked in a Democratic debate that McCain ‘traded his principles for his party’s nomination.’ Snickering at the idea that McCain is a scourge of lobbyists, Obama recently said that ‘he takes their money and has put them in charge of his campaign.’

“It’s little wonder that Obama and McCain would be casting each other as fakers. At the core of each man’s political identity is the image of a reformer determined to take on and reshape the corrupt culture of Washington, D.C. To Obama, McCain is a fixture of that system, one whose reform talk belies his debts to the GOP establishment and its lobbyist machine. McCain, meanwhile, sees Obama as an upstart self-promoter whose talk about reform isn’t matched by a record of hard work to achieve it.

“ ’In a weird sort of way, they’re fighting over a change-and-reform mantle from two ends of the same argument,’ says Dan Schnur, a former senior aide to McCain.”

Another example

“Anyone who has watched American politics lately didn’t particularly need to see another piece of evidence proving just how challenging the political environment is for Republicans,” Charlie Cook writes at nationaljournal.com.

“But Republican Jim Oberweis‘ loss to Democrat Bill Foster in Saturday’s special election in Illinois’ 14th District — for a seat held for over two decades by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert — is just one more example,” Mr. Cook said.

“The heavily Republican district that President Bush carried with 55 percent in 2004 gave Oberweis 47 percent, a big swing but not a surprising one given Bush’s high disapproval ratings.

“It would be unfair to lay the blame for this loss solely on Bush and his unpopularity, though.

“A weak candidate who had already lost two bids for the Senate and one for governor, Oberweis had upside-down numbers — higher unfavorable than favorable ratings — in some polls heading into the election and that was probably a major contributing factor in his loss.

“Had either Bush’s approval ratings been higher or Republicans nominated a candidate with less baggage, this seat likely wouldn’t have turned over.

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