Monday, September 1, 2008

Gustav update

So the convention was postponed. Laura Bush and Cindy McCain gave a little talk about giving to the victims of Gustav and they shut out the lights.

I guess that's probably wise. So far the reporters at CNN, FOX and MSNBC have been glowing in their praise of the government response to the hurricane. It helped that the governments and residents in the affected areas had such fresh memories, and that Gustav really doesn't appear to have been in the same league as Katrina. I'm not ready to show the all clear and say that the Repubs should get to partyin'. My home town paper had a headline of "A near miss" the day after Katrina... these things clearly need a day or a week to develop.

Still, I'm glad that it at least appears that things have gone better. As for the political fall out... I'm not really sure. I think it'll be neutral. Doing a good job at disaster relief is what the governemnt is supposed to do! Taking credit for being ordinary seems to me to be a likely flop if the Republicans try it. McCain gets credit for dodging the bullet that it might have been, and some Democrats will get scorned for praising Gustav and wishing the worst on their fellow citizens.

However, McCain still lost today, and is likely to lose parts of tomorrow and though the convention. No big media event means no chance for a bounce. I've already said that bounces are likely to be small anyway, but leaving the arrow in the quiver is bad for the R's.

Obama has done very well this week by doing nothing significant. After an inital flub of the Palin announcement (cracking on her for her inexperience before welcoming her to the race) he's cleaned up his act. Maybe he should just go into a cave and wait for November. Seems like his best days are when he's nowhere to be found.

We've got Hanah right behind and a great deal of distractions as the clean up gets going from Gustav, so what do you think? Does the RNC get totally over shaddowed by this? Does McCain lose some of the steam he had built up before this week? Does he get credit for appearing to stick to his "country first" motto? I don't have answers for you yet, stay tuned....

5 comments:

lady.in.waiting said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lady.in.waiting said...

I think the cancellation og the GOP will certainly hurt McCain. Maybe not too much, but it will certainly be negative.
I haven't been watching the news, since I don't have cable, but with all the praise Obama has been getting...for not giving a prissy speech :) Not to mention, the Clinton's press at the DNC...McCain is hurting in terms of publicity. Where is he to be found in the headlines?
I agree with you, the Rs definitely should not toot their own horn for acting as they should...the SECOND time around. Gustav was clearly a warning and I think he's saying "see there is nothing extraordinary about the Republicans." Their response was safe. I believe they could have been more creative instead of simply doing nothing. I am not a political strategist so it may take me sometime to come up with something, but I am sure they could have thought of something creative :)

lady.in.waiting said...

By the way, the deleted comment is from myself because it was not finished. However, I also wanted to note that Cindy McCain's choice of wear for her speech definitely does not shout First Lady. I think she was probably testing for a dep ball :) She would certainly be a sight to see as First Lady! I wonder if the role would make her more Presidential-esque...hmmm.

Toby said...

Haha, I hate to say it but I noticed the collar on her dress and thought that the same thing. She did fine with her talk, and so did Mrs Bush. I can't wait to see the polls in a few weeks to see how this whole thing pans out.

lady.in.waiting said...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/13068

hmmm...surprising.