Ricochet

Via Brian Beutler, a pretty odd story from the heart of the McCain campaign:

A top adviser to John McCain said Wednesday that he will step down from the Arizona senator's presidential campaign if the presumed GOP nominee faces Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in the general election.

McKinnon was a Texas Democrat who started working for George W. Bush in the late-1990s before becoming one of the early wave of Bush-affiliated political hacks to sign on with McCain 2008 before the campaign's temporary collapse. He's also been talkingup Obama for some time. Here he is in December 2006:

Mark McKinnon, who was a top adviser to President Bush in his two White House runs and who is a senior adviser to Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and a likely presidential candidate in 2008, said, “I think Barack Obama is the most interesting persona to appear on the political radar screen in decades.” He added, “He’s a walking, talking hope machine, and he may reshape American politics.”

A walking, talking hope machine sounds a bit frightening to me, but I think that was meant as praise.

Comments

Uhhh, if he thinks Obama is such a great candidate, superior even to McCain, why isn't he working for Obama now? It isn't like Barack is some fringe candidate getting 6% of the vote with no chance at becoming President.

I can't imagine the McCain people will want someone around who's already talking about jumping ship.

Posted by Jayhawk Max | February 14, 2008 11:34 AM

I thought the same thing. If I were McCain I would politely ask him to step down. You don't want someone working for your campaign who isn't completely on board. I thought McKinnon's explanation was just weird too. He says he wouldn't want to be in a position of having to run attack ads against Obama. Why not, if he, as he continues to say, McCain is still the best candidate?

Posted by Rob Mac | February 14, 2008 11:52 AM

" I met Barack Obama, I read his book, I like him a great deal," said McKinnon. "I disagree with him on very fundamental issues. But I think, as I said, I think it would be a great race for the country."

It's like when Obama said something positive about Reagan. Doesn't compute with ultrapartisans. The other side is evil.

I'd rather have a charming, effective candidate who can do the Jedi mind trick on conservatives than have an "experienced" candidate who galvanizes and unites the opposition at a time when they are divided and weak.

Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh played Sammy Davis Jr.'s version of the Candyman Can. The whole thing. He said it was Obama's song for the time being.

I'd just point out to conservatives that Obama has what Reagan had in a way. And Reagan was effective in some ways, breaking the air traffic controllers strike, Iran-Contra, etc. Do you remember his funeral? Talk about a cult of personality.

Posted by Peter K. | February 14, 2008 12:07 PM

The hope machines that didn't talk were actually far more scary.

Posted by Delicious Pundit | February 14, 2008 12:22 PM

Ricochet

I'm really really really uncomfortable with Republicans' views on Obama couched in ballistic imagery.

Posted by Olo | February 14, 2008 12:34 PM

It's pretty simple, really: Mark McKinnon's mancrushes are so overwhelming, they swamp ideological considerations. And that's why McCain shouldn't ask him to resign: he needs guys like McKinnon to rhapsodize about his studliness.

For a time in the early 1980s, McKinnon edited the University of Texas student magazine, UTMost (gedit?). One of the features he authored was about some rednecks who hunt wild boar with only a pack of semi-rabid dogs and a Bowie knife. The dogs corner the boar, and the hunter plunges into the fray, stabbing away. Needless to say, McKinnon wrote the thing in a tone of unabashed, beatific admiration.

I can't find the thing online; if UT were to make that article available, the value to posterity would be incalculable.

Posted by kth | February 14, 2008 12:39 PM

Maybe just maybe he thinks Obama is a good guy.. The shock..

Posted by Ann | February 14, 2008 12:45 PM

This only bolsters the legend of McCain. Not only is he a maverick, his advisors are too! Gives the upcoming swiftboating of Obama that much more credibility.

Posted by Steve V | February 14, 2008 12:58 PM

"A walking, talking hope machine sounds a bit frightening to me, but I think that was meant as praise."

It sounds like something you would buy on QVC for $19.99.

Posted by Reality Man | February 14, 2008 2:11 PM

Yet another event from the West Wing election shows up -- there Vinick, the "maverick" Republican, had a long-time Latino aide who resigned from the campaign rather than oppose Santos, the Latino Democratic nominee. Not an exact parallel, but...

Actually because there are only two active Democratic candidates, it's very unlikely for the convention to go beyond a first ballot, as theirs did. Of course in WW the third candidate was the formal Vice President...

Posted by DaveMB | February 14, 2008 3:15 PM

Wasn't MacKinnon the guy who quit the Bush team and rather flamboyantly announced that his "infatuation" was all a big mistake? Man-crush does indeed seem to be the operative word for this guy.

Posted by SqueakyRat | February 15, 2008 8:47 AM

"HOPE! HOPE! HOPE! Will Robinson!"

Posted by Njorl | February 15, 2008 8:53 AM