The Making (and Remaking) of McCain
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, History, McCain
New York Times has released the massive behind-the-scenes story about how the McCain campaign has never truly gotten off the ground.
I’ll be reprinting excerpts from each section throughout the day. The thing here is that the story is smartly organized into the differing narratives the campaign has shifted from. So what we get are SIX different sections that detail how one led into another, which led into another, and so on and so forth…
John McCain’s biography has been the stuff of legend for nearly a decade. And yet Schmidt and his fellow strategists have had difficulty explaining how America will be better off for electing (as opposed to simply admiring) a stubborn patriot. In seeking to do so, the McCain campaign has changed its narrative over and over.Sometimes with McCain’s initial resistance but always with his eventual approval, Schmidt has proffered a candidate who is variously a fighter, a conciliator, an experienced leader and a shake-’em-up rebel. “The trick is that all of these are McCain,†Matt McDonald, a senior adviser, told me. But in constantly alternating among story lines in order to respond to changing events and to gain traction with voters, the “true character†of a once-crisply-defined political figure has become increasingly murky.
Schmidt evidently saw the financial crisis as a “true character†moment that would advance his candidate’s narrative. But the story line did not go as scripted. “This has to be solved by Monday,†Schmidt told reporters that Wednesday afternoon in late September, just after McCain concluded his lengthy meeting with his advisers and subsequently announced his decision to suspend his campaign and go to Washington.
Belying a crisis situation, however, McCain didn’t leave New York immediately. He spent Thursday morning at an event for the Clinton Global Initiative, the nonprofit foundation run by former President Bill Clinton. As McCain headed for Washington later that morning, he was sufficiently concerned about the situation that Schmidt felt compelled to reassure him. “Remember what President Clinton told you,†Schmidt said, referring to advice Clinton had dispensed that morning: “If you do the right thing, it might be painful for a few days. But in the long run it will work out in your favor.â€
It didn’t work out in his favor.
More soon…
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, History, McCain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
[...] As mentioned before, I’m posting excerpts from the NY Times article about the McCain campaign and its shifting narratives. For the intro to the piece, start here. [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 am
It’s more like the unmaking of McCain. :-(
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
[...] read the intro and Narrative [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
[...] to get a more complete view of the shifting narratives of the McCain campaign, start by reading the intro, Narrative 1 and Narrative [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
[...] out ALL of the shifting narratives of the McCain campaign by first reading the intro, Narrative 1, Narrative 2 and Narrative [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:31 pm
[...] series continues, but if you haven’t already…first read the intro, Narrative 1, Narrative 2, Narrative 3 and Narrative [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
[...] series concludes with this post, but you can also read the intro, Narrative 1, Narrative 2, Narrative 3, Narrative 4 and Narrative [...]