As November creeps closer and closer and voters’ anxiety rises higher by the day, it seems the candidates are now stooping to any level to undercut their opponent. And sometimes when you stoop low you fall in the mud.
Barack Obama is practically rolling in it.
Facing waning poll numbers in the wake of a debilitating performance at the Saddleback Civil Forum last weekend, presumed Democratic nominee Barack Obama has now resorted to attacking the wealth of his rival.
That’s right. The wealth.
In what was clearly an unfortunate and embarrassing gaffe, John McCain, when asked in a recent interview with Politico.com how many houses he owned, answered the following:
“I think — I’ll have my staff get to you… It’s condominiums where — I’ll have them get to you.”
In typical fashion, the Obama campaign seized on this right away, producing a scathing new video advertisement. Answering the question for him, the ad ominously proclaims—tragic background music and all— that Senator McCain owns seven houses worth a total of thirteen million dollars.
Barack Obama, who has already expressed his disdain for lavish, comfortable lifestyles—see “We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times”—wants Americans to look down on John McCain’s wealth. The entire point behind the ad, besides pointing out McCain’s embarrassing verbal slip up, is to depict his luxurious lifestyle as an abomination.
Wow—spurning great wealth? It seems that once again Mr. Obama has practically plagiarized entire paragraphs from the communist manifesto. Can you imagine presidents Reagan, Kennedy, or Eisenhower using wealth as a negative in a campaign ad? Can you picture them encouraging voters to look down on financial success?
We didn’t think so. America has a tradition of encouraging its citizens to make money, achieve success, and live a comfortable live. That is what capitalism is all about, and that is what has made America such a viable and enduring nation throughout its lifetime.
Mr. Obama, however, is playing a game of class-warfare and tapping into the same socialist fears that have triggered so many “people’s” revolutions throughout history. Hate McCain because he is wealthy, Obama declares. Hate him because he and his wife have done well for themselves. Hate the rich.
What’s worse is that Obama—despite all his criticism and rage over McCain being rich—is in the very same boat. As McCain spokesman Brian Rogers recently remarked:
“Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people ‘cling’ to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who’s in touch with regular Americans?”
On top of that, Bloomberg.com recently reported that Mr. Obama spent more money on campaign advertisements in July than Mr. McCain spent on the entire campaign. Mr. Obama reportedly spent $33 million on advertisements in July whereas Mr. McCain spent $32.4 million on his entire campaign in July.
The fact of the matter is that neither John McCain nor Barack Obama ought to feel guilty about living a wealthy lifestyle. In fact, the candidates ought to be encouraging Americans to strive for a comfortable, fiscally responsible lifestyle as well. All American’s need to feel that achieving financial security is a good thing, not something to look down on.
Obama’s personal hypocrisy is one thing. His unabashedly communist spurning of the wealthy is an entirely different matter.
