I was enthused to hear Biden’s great line, “these times require more than a good soldier, they require a wise leader” and think it has the makings of a valuable meme if he keeps hammering on it.  It’s really a more acceptable (MSM acceptable) way of making the same point that Wes Clark tried to make … and that point needs to be made.  Made in a reasonable “oh-yeah, sure” way, not a “how-dare-you-criticize” way.  It acknowledges McCain’s service and courage but also dismisses it as insufficient as a basis to choose a president.

 

The essence of a good soldier is following orders, and that fits perfectly with McCain’s record from the Keating 5, to the FCC commissioner deal ,to the lobbyist connections, to the 95% behind George Bush and probably many more a competent research team could find.  It effectively refutes the ‘maverick’ meme as a maverick is the antithesis of a ‘good soldier’.

 

The trick is to hammer it home and not just let it die out after this speech.

 

The other side of it is to challenge McCain to show where he has politically shown ‘wise leadership’ and stuck with it, instead of just throwing in with a showy attempt to change something.  Somewhere that he has actually led the change and not abandoned it after it became politically expedient.  Campaign reform is an excellent example of where he abandoned real leadership when it was inconvenient.  Refusing to define waterboarding as torture is another.  Maybe an ad titled “John McCain, Inconvenient Truths”.  Of course Obama would need iron-tight examples of his own leadership in order for this to work.  Plus those examples would have to demonstrate not just leadership, but wise leadership.  Then the distinction could be drawn.

 

Also, in response to the debate clip of Biden saying Obama isn’t ready, by first saying that no one running for president in a primary has ever conceded that their opponent would be a better choice, or be more ready and that no ever asked him if  he thought McCain is ready.  This should prompt a question of, Well, is McCain ready?” which he can then respond to by saying he thinks McCain is not only not ready, but has demonstrably proven that he never will be and then challenge the MSM to give that as much coverage as they have his other comments.