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McCain and Hillary tag-team Obama

James Forsyth

Monday, 18th February 2008

Both John McCain and Hillary Clinton are using the same playbook against Barack Obama, trying to make voters see him as just another politician. The McCain camp started this with McCain’s challenge to Obama to stay within the public financing system for the general election, something which Obama had previously stated he was inclined to do but would now see him throw away a huge fundraising advantage. This is a win-win for McCain as if Obama backs away from his previous commitment McCain can hammer him for that while if Obama abides by it he will be throwing away one of his biggest general election advantages. The Clinton campaigned eagerly piggy-backed on the McCain charge on public financing and have added a couple of their own to the list accusing Obama of ducking debates and plagiarising the words of other politicians. The plagiarism flap in and of itself isn’t such a big deal as Obama was using words from a friend and ally but it all helps the Clintons to chip away at his halo.