Back in December 2006, former McCain ad man Mark McKinnon suggested that his boss and Obama " jump on a plane and campaign together around the country"–just as Jack Kennedy and Barry Goldwater planned to do in 1964. Earlier this month, another McCain aide, Charlie Black, floated a similar “Dynamic Duo” proposal: a series of unmoderated townhall-style debates. And on Monday, McCain himself invited Obama to join him on a trip to Iraq. “I go back every few months because things are changing,” he said. “I would also seize that opportunity to educate Senator Obama along the way.”
Is McCain lonely? I doubt it. Clearly, he thinks he has something to gain by extending these invitations–whether Obama accepts or not. Just by asking, McCain gets to look bold, unconventional and confident–a candidate more interested in candor and comity than canned remarks and stale forums (which in many ways he is). That’s doubly true if Obama declines. And McCain probably figures that if the stars aligned and the paired events actually occurred, they’d benefit him as well: the townhalls by emphasizing his extemporaneous wit, showing how spry he is for 71 and putting him on equal footing, publicity-wise, with Obama, who will outspend him massively on TV ads; the Baghdad vacation by highlighting recent progress in Iraq and making Obama look like a pupil in desperate need of foreign-policy schooling. As McCain put it today in Reno, Nev., where he repeated that his rival from Illinois had only visited Iraq once despite serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “A little over two years ago he went, and he has never seized the opportunity except in a hearing to meet with General Petraeus. This is about leadership and learning.”
The problem: it’s not clear that McCain is getting the best of Obama here. For starters, the Democratic near-nominee immediately accepted McCain’s join townhall proposal–suggesting that he has at least as much to gain from the gambit as his opponent. “I think that’s a great idea,” he said at a May 11 press avail in Bend, Ore. The reason Obama was so willing to sign on? “If his biggest problem when matched with McCain is his gravitas, just walking on stage could help fix that,” writes Slate’s John Dickerson. “And, like McCain, Obama is appealing when he’s telling us what’s on his mind rather than what’s on a page.” In other words, Obama wins, too.
The Iraq idea, however, is probably DOA–and Obama has arguably emerged with the upper hand. Writing yesterday to Talking Points Memo, Obama spokesman Bill Burton declined McCain’s invitation and showed why the Arizonan probably shouldn’t have tendered it in the first place. “John McCain’s proposal is nothing more than a political stunt,” said Burton. “We don’t need any more ‘Mission Accomplished’ banners or walks through Baghdad markets to know that Iraq’s leaders have not made the political progress that was the stated purpose of the surge.” In case you’ve forgotten, McCain has cited his April 2007 trip to Baghdad as evidence that one can now “walk freely” in the Iraqi capital–even though he was accompanied by 100 American soldiers, three Blackhawk helicopters and two Apache gunships at the time. In his statement, Burton reminded voters of McCain’s similarities to George Bush–not least in their willingness ignore the facts on the ground to suit a political agenda. No doubt McCain will continue to hammer Obama for not visiting Iraq since 2006; such talk may even prompt Obama to return to Baghdad before the election.* But it’s kind of hard for McCain to claim that he wasn’t planning to twist a jointMesopotamian trip for political purposes when he’s plainly done it in the past.
Not that extending the invitation with this compliment–"[Obama] really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time"–made the senator seem like the pleasantest of traveling companions. But still: with nearly 70 percent of Americans disapproving, Iraq is a war that Obama is more than willing to fight.
Next up: McCain asks his rival to join him for a deep-tissue massage. Is Barack man enough to accept?
UPDATE, May 29: That was fast. According to the New York Times,
Until then, the RNC’s “Days Since Barack Obama Visited Iraq” clock keeps on tickin’. Current count: 872.
