Krugman on Seriousness

Paul Krugman writes in The New York Times that the economic crisis has led to an emphasis on seriousness by the electorate to the detriment of the fundamentally unserious campaign of John McCain.

Think about the themes of the McCain campaign so far. Mr. McCain reminds us, again and again, that he’s a maverick — but what does that mean? His maverickness seems to be defined as a free-floating personality trait, rather than being tied to any specific objections on his part to the way the country has been run for the last eight years...Conversely, he has attacked Mr. Obama as a “celebrity,” but without any specific explanation of what’s wrong with that — it’s just a given that we’re supposed to hate Hollywood types.

The McCain campaign’s response to its falling chances of victory has been telling: rather than trying to make the case that Mr. McCain really is better qualified to deal with the economic crisis, the campaign has been doing all it can to trivialize things again. Mr. Obama consorts with ’60s radicals! He’s a socialist! He doesn’t love America! Judging from the polls, it doesn’t seem to be working.

Conservative blogger Ross Douthat of The Atlantic makes a similar point in a recent post.

One of the many fascinating things about Robert Draper's Times Magazine story on the McCain campaign is what isn't included in its account of the attempts to brand (and rebrand, and rebrand) John McCain's candidacy: Namely, any real discussion of policy. From Draper's account, the McCain campaign staff has gone around and around trying to figure out how to sell their candidate - as a fighter! as an experienced leader! as a maverick! etc. - but hardly ever seemed to have spent much time thinking about how these narratives would mesh with or be reinforced by the actual policy agenda the campaign was advancing.

Perhaps it is time to give the American electorate a bit of credit for seeing through attempts to distract attention from important issues with flashy trivia.

UPDATE: Politifact.com gives Sarah Palin's charge that Obama would "experiment with socialism" a "pants on fire." Greg Sargent chimes in on Talking Points Memo in response to the McCain campaign's "Obama is a socialist" attacks.

The real significance of this episode is that it's yet another reminder of just how out of touch with the public mood McCain the Redistributor is. From the transparently bogus campaign suspension to the selection of Palin to the Joe the Plumber nonsense to this latest, McCain's campaign has been little more than a series of gimmicks that have revealed him to be fundamentally unseriousness in a way that's completely at odds with the apparent yearnings of the public at this current juncture.

Obama, by contrast, has consistently projected a level of seriousness in sync with the public mood, the challenges ahead, and the gravity of this historical moment. Call it the Seriousness Gap. It's a key reason Obama is winning.

--Ballard Burgher