http://www.newsmax.com/politics/candidates_terrorism/2008/06/18/105622.html
Analysis: McCain Challenges Obama on Terrorism
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
WA****NGTON -- Republican John McCain paints Democratic rival Barack
Obama as naive on foreign policy, weak on national security and, now,
soft on terrorism.
Sound familiar?
It should.
President Bush successfully used that line of argument in 2004 against
Democrat John Kerry. Republicans sought to do the same in the 2006
congressional elections but failed; Democrats won control of the House
and Senate.
Today, McCain _ a different presidential candidate in a political
environment dominated by the nation's economic woes _ seemingly has
little choice but to criticize Obama the same way. Like those before
him, McCain and his surrogates are raising the specter of Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks to do it.
"The Democrats want to go back to a pre-September 11th view of
terrorism ... The Democrats, led by Barack Obama, want to go back to
being on defense," Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and top
McCain surrogate said Wednesday, a day after McCain's campaign claimed
Obama is naive and "a perfect manifestation a September 10th
mind-set."
Fighting any notion of weakness, Obama quickly cried foul. He accused
McCain of "fear-mongering" and said Wednesday: "He's also going to use
the Bush-Cheney political playbook that's based on fear."
Sure enough, the politics of fear have resurfaced _ and it's easy to
see why.
National security and foreign policy are McCain's signature issues
and, historically, a Republican strength. Obama, a first-term Illinois
senator, is not nearly as experienced on such matters, and the
Democratic Party long has been perceived as weaker than the GOP on the
country's safety.
McCain, a four-term Arizona senator, former Navy pilot and Vietnam POW
for 5 1/2, has a better chance to win if he can focus voters on
national security.
It may be a hard sell.
This year, voters overwhelmingly care more about bread-and-butter
concerns as gas prices soar, the housing market slumps and layoffs
spike.
An AP-Yahoo News poll in April showed that while three-fourths of
people said terrorism was an im****tant issue, voters ranked eight
other issues as more im****tant _ the economy, gas prices, health care,
the Iraq war, taxes, Social Security, political corruption and
education. Of those calling terrorism an im****tant issue, 41 percent
said they'd vote for McCain while 30 percent said they'd choose Obama.
Terrorism may not be as potent a campaign issue as it once was.
The country is nearly seven years removed from the 2001 terrorist
attacks, and Republicans face the challenge of simplifying the complex
issues of fighting terrorism by using a with-them-or-against-them
argument. The public has grown more skeptical as holes were poked into
everything from Bush's justification for going to war with Iraq to his
administration's efforts to expand executive authority in the name of
protecting the country.
And so many other factors in this election _ from race and age to
experience and competency _ may further muddy the GOP's efforts.
Obama, age 46 and a Senate rookie, would be the first black president;
McCain, age 71 and a Senate veteran, would be the country's oldest
first-term elected president.
Even so, with the GOP facing challenging headwinds, McCain has few
options outside of trying to change the conversation by exploiting
Obama's vulnerablities on foreign policy. In some ways, it's almost as
if McCain is embracing the residue of the Democratic primary in which
Hillary Rodham Clinton ****trayed herself as stronger and Obama weaker
on national security.
Like Clinton, McCain has repeatedly criticized Obama for saying last
year that he would be willing to meet _ without preconditions _ with
the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea.
Bush, too, weighed in last month when he hinted that Obama wants to
appease terrorists and radicals.
The likely Republican nominee also saw op****tunity _ and jumped at it
_ when an adviser to the Islamic militant group Hamas said recently:
"We like Obama and hope that he will win the election." McCain used
the comment in a fundraising appeal and said: "I guarantee you,
they're not going to endorse me."
This week, McCain has roundly assailed Obama over his response to the
Supreme Court ruling that detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have a
constitutional right to challenge their indefinite imprisonment in
U.S. civilian courts.
Both candidates sup****t shutting down the prison but they staked out
opposite positions on the ruling.
Obama applauded the decision, saying it strikes the proper balance
between fighting terrorism and "protecting our core values."
McCain derided the ruling as "one of the worst decisions in the
history of this country" _ and turned loose his aides and backers, who
criticized Obama for talking about using the criminal justice system
to prosecute terrorists. His allies turned up the heat after Obama, in
an ABC News interview, spoke approvingly of the successful prosecution
and imprisonment of those responsible for the 1993 bombing of the
World Trade Center, and contrasted their treatment with that of
Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Five months before voters go to the polls in a general election that,
so far, has focused on the economy, it remains to be seen whether
McCain can refocus voters on the threat of terrorism _ that is, short
of a terrorist attack changing the race.
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