I think, with the selection of Joe Biden as his running mate, Obama may have inherited foot-in-mouth disease. Here we have yet another example in Obama’s latest attack ad. It isn’t a very effective ad, but it sure is offensive:
OK, so the McSame crap is old and tired. We get it, Obama. Now illustrate how exactly it is that you are different and shiny and new… aside from having next to no experience at anything whatsoever. Give us some specifics that don’t include lofty rhetoric, soaring speeches, and 463 “uh’s”.
What’s below the belt is the e-mail and computer jab. Anyone know why McCain can’t use a computer and check his e-mail? Well, because of the beatings he received as a POW in Vietnam… you know, broken fingers and all. From The Boston Globe:
McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain’s severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain’s encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He’s an avid fan – Ted Williams is his hero – but he can’t raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.
After Vietnam, McCain had Ann Lawrence, a physical therapist, help him regain flexibility in his leg, which had been frozen in an extended position by a shattered knee. It was the only way he could hope to resume his career as a Navy flier, but Lawrence said the treatment, taken twice a week for six months, was excruciatingly painful.
“He endured it, he wouldn’t settle for less,” said Lawrence, who rejoiced with McCain when he passed the Navy physical. “I have never seen such toughness and resolve.”
Forbes has this too, although they show that just because McCain doesn’t use the computer personally, he isn’t exactly unfamiliar:
In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate’s savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. “She’s a whiz on the keyboard, and I’m so laborious,” McCain admits.
This is where research would come in handy, Obama.
When Obama goes through something that’s even 1/10th as harrowing, debilitating, and painful, then he can start making jabs about McCain not being able to use a computer. Until then, he needs to keep his damn mouth shut on that department.
Why is it Obama attacked McCain on something like that, rather than his policies? Jonah Goldberg sums up the ridiculousness of this attack:
Oh one last point for now: Lord knows I think the chicken-hawk arguments are stupid. And I don’t think the fact that Obama never served in the military should count against him in and of itself. But how stupid is it for the Obama campaign to claim that McCain is unqualified to be president because he can’t grasp cyber-security issues based on the fact he has never sent an email when the McCain campaign can just as easily say Obama can’t understand first order national security issues because he’s never fired a rife, flown a plane, commanded men in battle, or faced an enemy? I mean which prepares someone to be commander in chief better, hitting “send” on AOL or fighting a war?
Excellent point.
Another thought: does Obama think he’s endearing himself to senior citizens with this one? I’m sure that many senior citizens would take offense with this ad, making fun of someone because they’re oooold, and for not being up-to-date with the newest technology. Hell, I’m offended. I’m still on Windows XP, and not entirely interested in upgrading to Vista, so does that mean I should quit blogging because I’m somehow “not qualified”? That’s how idiotic that statement against McCain is.
And does he think it helps with his elitist image? It only serves to make him look even more arrogant and condescending. All he needs to do now is point and laugh, followed by the taunt Loser!. It makes him look like an immature jerk, trying desperately to hold onto his “cool” image. This thing completely backfired in his face.
News flash: being hip and in with the newest fads does not qualify one to be President, Obama. And if you’re trying to show that McCain is so old and busted that he can’t even use that newfangled contraption called the world wide web, you might want to use it correctly yourself before you go around preaching yourself as the new hotness. There’s a thing called a search engine. Perhaps Obama’s team of crack attack-ad makers should try using one before they make their next one.
This whole episode reminds me of this scene from Men in Black 2. Fast forward to about 4:15 in. I think it sums it up pretty well.
Hat Tips: Hot Air and Ace of Spades
