Below Belt Tactics Enter American Presidential Campaign

In an attempt to distance himself from President George W. Bush, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain had promised to lead a “respectful campaign” against his rival Barack Obama. However, for the past few days the McCain campaign has been broadcasting campaign ads directly attacking Mr. Obama. One of these ads effectively described Senator Obama as arrogant and presumptuous and compared him to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. These recent attacks have generated staunch criticism from the Democrats who deplore the “nasty turn” taken by the campaign.

“We are faced with numerous challenges: our economy is facing difficulties, the cost of energy is booming and some families have no social protection…. Instead of having a serious debate on these questions, John McCain has been running a negative and very aggressive campaign towards us,” deplored Barack Obama. In a letter addressed on Thursday to Obama’ supporters, his campaign director David Plouffe wanted to brief them about the current situation: “Less than 24 hours ago, the McCain campaign launched the latest and lowest in a series of misleading attack ads…But we will not let any attack stand,” he wrote, condemning these “Karl Rove-Style” tactics. The latter was indeed George Bush’s former adviser and was known for his “wicked” political tactics.

“Not Patriotic Enough”

The theme of race also violently entered the political arena. Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s Campaign Director, accused Mr. Obama of having introduced the debate this week in his speech in Missouri.

“The only strategy they have in this election is try to scare you about me. They’ll try to say, ‘he’s not patriotic enough, he’s got a funny name and he doesn’t look like the presidents you see on bank notes’,” he said.

“Barack Obama played the race card and he played it trying to withhold reality,” Mr. Davis said. “This creates divisions; it’s negative, shameful and untrue.” John McCain publicly supported his campaign director’s claims that he judged “legitimate.”

How does one explain how a presidential campaign with two opposing candidates, who had promised to refrain from using such nasty tactics, has taken such a low turn?

The arrival of several men within the McCain campaign who had previously worked for Karl Rove could help explain this. The participation of Steve Schmidt, George Bush’s former advisor and the author of an infamous video that denigrated Democratic candidate John Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign, coincides with the recent attacks on Obama.

The New York Times reported that Steve Schmidt has decided to sacrifice ethics for efficacy. When he was questioned by the Internet Politico website about tactics concerning race, Mr. Schmidt explained that the objective was to “counter any attack” against McCain on this topic. “It doesn’t interest me to know whether it helps us or hurts us. When we don’t respond to a lie, the lie becomes reality,” he said.