McCain campaign more than a little touchy about the age issue

Barack Obama stopped by CNN’s “Situation Room” yesterday, and Wolf Blitzer asked about John McCain’s recent assertion that Hamas wants Obama to be president. Obama noted McCain is wrong on the substance (Obama and McCain have largely the same position on policy towards Hamas), and wrong on the style (McCain had vowed to take the high road in the campaign).

Obama concluded, “So for him to toss out comments like that I think is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination.”

Marc Salter, one of McCain’s top aides, soon after issued a memo, blasting Obama’s choice of words.

[L]et us be clear about the nature of Senator Obama’s attack today: He used the words ‘losing his bearings’ intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain’s age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning. We have all become familiar with Senator Obama’s new brand of politics. First, you demand civility from your opponent, then you attack him, distort his record and send out surrogates to question his integrity. It is called hypocrisy, and it is the oldest kind of politics there is.

My, my, a little sensitive about the age issue, aren’t we?

Maybe Obama was making a subtle dig here, but I really doubt it. “Losing his marbles”? Sure. “Losing control of his faculties”? No doubt. But “losing his bearings” has nothing to do with age — it refers to someone who has lost their way. They’re off track. They’re moving in the wrong direction.

The McCain gang probably should have let this one go; it only serves to remind everyone that McCain would be the oldest president in American history, and that they’d prefer that this topic remain off limits.



A month ago, Jack Murtha (a Hillary Clinton supporter) said, “[T]his one guy running is about as old as me. And let me tell you something, it’s not [an] old man’s job.” That’s was a “not particularly clever way of raising John McCain’s age as an issue.”

The McCain campaign’s overheated response suggests his team is more than a little concerned about how voters will feel about electing a 72-year-old Washington insider in a time when Americans are desperate for change. Given the polls, I can’t say I blame them.

Post Script: I just have to add that the Salter memo excoriating Obama for using the word “bearings” also included this gem:

Senator Obama is hopeful that the media will continue to form a protective barrier around him, declaring serious limits to the questions, discussion and debate in this race. Senator Obama has good reason to think this plan will succeed, as serious journalists have written of the need for ‘de-tox’ to cure ‘swooning’ over Senator Obama, and others have admitted to losing their objectivity while with him on the campaign trail.

Can’t … type … laughing … too … hard …