What Hillary Clinton taught John McCain: Change!
Throughout the election season, John McCain has emphasized his "experience" while Barack Obama has focused on "change." At the Republican convention, however, speeches made by McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin showed a move toward Obama's message of change:
Palin on McCain and change
In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.
McCain on change
We [Republicans] were elected to change
and
I know some of you have been left behind in the changing economy and it often seems your government hasn't even noticed. Government assistance for unemployed workers was designed for the economy of the 1950s. That's going to change on my watch.
and
We need to change the way government does almost everything....
Why the change to change?
Well, why not? The change message has certainly worked for Obama. "Change" changed Obama from a relatively unknown senator to a cultural icon and political force to be reckoned with. Change is no longer just Obama's message; it's an American movement, the new cause of choice for millions of citizens. McCain wants a piece of that action (and some of those votes), and he's willing to copycat Obama to get it.
And then there is the lesson that McCain learned from Hillary Clinton, who ran a campaign based on experience straight into the ground. She beat voters over the heads with her experience, telling them over and over again that she was the candidate who would be "ready on day one" of her presidency. But her experience message didn't push her ahead of Obama. So she added change to her repertoire at the end of the democratic primary, but by then it was too late. Now she wishes she could change that, and McCain doesn't want to make her mistake.
Do you think McCain's new change message (or old change message, when you consider that Obama has been preaching it for over a year now) will get him to The White House? Tell us in the comments above.
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2008 Election , Barack Obama , Democrats , Hillary Clinton , John McCain , Republicans , Sarah Palin0 TrackBacks
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I think McCain's "change" message will definitely help - with so many people unhappy about so many issues like gas prices, the housing market, the economy, it's vital to him being elected. People want to know there is hope for change. With both candidates talking about "change" it's now about which "change" they support.
I agree; what sort of change being promoted is the key issue here. Change for the sake of change, or change that is for the better for the most people?
I laughed when I heard that Joe Biden was Obama's VEEP pick after all the change talk. Biden has been in the Senate, like, FOREVER.
McCain and Change?? BULLSH*T. He's just jumping on the bandwagon because the change message works! He doesn't want change! There will just be a new group of conservative, pro-life, racists in the White House if McCain wins. Lord help us.