By Susan Duclos
Campaign 2012 shows multiple instances where Obama and White House Spokesman Jay Carney, mention John McCain and compare him to the openly aggressive style of Mitt Romney in 2012.
A few days earlier, when the Obama campaign attacked Romney for declining to disavow Donald Trump, White House spokesman Jay Carney again invoked McCain. "You'll recall that in the 2008 race, Senator John McCain…made a decision not to ally with extreme elements in his own party," Carney said. At about the same time, the Obama campaign released a web video that also featured McCain nostalgia. "John McCain stood up to the voices of extremism in his party," the video said. "Why won't Mitt Romney do the same?"
The last week, more than any in the campaign so far, has shown Team Obama that Romney and his aides are prepared to fight as hard as needed to win in November. The Romney-organized shouting-down of top Obama aide David Axelrod in Boston; the Romney sneak event at the old Solyndra headquarters in California; Romney's refusal to give in to Democratic demands to repudiate Trump; and Romney's determination to avoid side controversies while remaining singularly focused on the economy all revealed a candidate who has resolved to battle Obama on his own, and not Obama's, terms. It's no wonder Obama has become nostalgic for the relatively comfortable days of 2008.
Awwwwww, "Obama "misses" the nice civilized 2008 election cycle," says Moe Lane!!!!
In 2008 the Obama campaign released an ad that mocked John McCain for his inability to send an email – which infuriated people, because the reason why he can’t send an email is because his arms have never really worked properly after the North Vietnamese got done torturing him. When Obama’s Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden dared mildly apologize for it, the Obama campaign humiliated Biden by having their lackey Bill Burton come out and retract Biden’s apology.
This is what passed for ‘civility’ in the 2008 election cycle… but I can understand why Obama would get all misty-eyed about those days. It’s natural for a coward to remember fondly the times when his fights were all with people who wouldn’t – or couldn’t – fight back…
Understandable why Obama would miss McCain.
What would McCain have done in 2008 if the Obama campaign were to help organize a protest to heckle McCain during a visit to an inner-city school in Philadelphia as they did against Romney?
Washington Post:
Outside, meanwhile, some brick row houses across from the school were boarded up. Police had cordoned off a full city block to protect Romney and his entourage. Residents, some of them organized by Obama’s campaign, stood on their porches and gathered at a sidewalk corner to shout angrily at Romney. Some held signs saying, “We are the 99%.” One man’s placard trumpeted an often-referenced Romney gaffe: “I am not concerned about the very poor.”Anyone one of us that would have preferred McCain to Obama in 2008, knows that McCain would have turned the other cheek, considered it uncivilized and moved right along after waving his finger and saying, "shame on you Obama."
What did Romney supporters do? They returned the favor, with gusto.
While Axelrod continued to speak, the Romney supporters started to chant "Solyn-dra" and "Axel-fraud" to a stunned Axelrod.
When Axelrod proceeded to ask the media or anyone if they had any questions, the Romney supporters then began shouting, “Where are the jobs?”
A candidate's supporters level of intensity is directly linked to the candidate's level of intensity and anybody that watched the brutal GOP primaries understood, whether they supported Romney or not, that Romney would go on the offense and stay there, refusing to let a punch hit without hitting back just as hard, just as fast and just as ruthlessly.
Of course Obama misses John McCain. Of course Obama misses 2008.
Too bad for Obama, this is 2012.