No More Mister Nice Guy

The latest campaign kerfuffle is Obama’s effort to make hay out of John McCain’s inability to tell a reporter how many houses he owns. McCain mumbled something about condos and said the reporter should talk to his wife. Predictably, Obama is trying to spin this exchange as showing that McCain is “out of touch.”

I can relate, though. For example, if a reporter asked me how many ties I own, there’s no way I could answer. Just like McCain, I’d tell him he has to ask my wife. Likewise if someone wants to know how many Wii games my kids have.

McCain’s campaign, though, took it amiss and struck back hard. Brian Rogers, McCain’s spokesman, said:

Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people “cling” to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who’s in touch with regular Americans?

“The reality is that Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes and opposition to producing more energy here at home as gas prices skyrocket show he’s completely out of touch with the concerns of average Americans.”

Touche, I guess. The truth is that McCain isn’t out of touch with “ordinary people” because he’s rich, he’s out of touch with his own domestic arrangements because he cares little about material things, and for many years has devoted his extraordinary energies not to enjoying his wife’s money, but to serving the American people. Given the number of nights he’s spent in hotels or on military bases over the last few years, it’s no wonder he hasn’t seen much of his wife’s condos.

UPDATE: Talk about a rapid-fire response! McCain has come out with a new ad, which I assume he’s running in the same states where Obama is airing his silly attack on McCain. Here it is, “Housing Problems:”

Obama might want to re-think this line of attack.

FURTHER UPDATE: An emailer tells me that some unusually stupid people on the Left–yes, Andrew, I mean you–couldn’t figure out that my equation of neckties and houses was a JOKE. As someone who wears a suit to work every day, I have maybe 50 or 60 ties. But I only have one house. So I was kidding, see–facetiously acknowledging how weird it seems, to us non-rich people, for someone not to know off the top of his head how many houses he owns. Liberals, you need to get a grip. Being consumed by hate is damaging to your sense of humor.

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