You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll piss yourself

Reacting to concern among some Democrats that his campaign is not pushing back hard enough against increasingly pointed (not to mention misleading) Republican attacks, the NY Times reports that Barack Obama will be stepping up his criticism of John McCain going forward. But if you're worried that this is a knee-jerk reaction that's incongruous with Obama's notoriously disciplined approach to campaigning, the following statement should put your mind at ease:

“We’re sensitive to the fluid dynamics of the campaign, but we have a game plan and a strategy,” said Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe. “We’re familiar with this. And I’m sure between now and Nov. 4 there will be another period of hand-wringing and bed-wetting. It comes with the territory.”


This guy really does seem sensitive to the "fluid" dynamics of the campaign. Sort of a strange choice of words, no? He may as well have said, "We fully expect there will be another period of fretting and vomiting. It comes with the territory." Or, "This is all par for the course. The hand-wringing, the pooping in our pants. That's politics."

Bono Was At Harvard

Seven years ago this month, I graduated from college. Our commencement speaker on that rainy May morning back in 2001 was U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ).


According to The Daily Pennsylvanian, the University of Pennsylvania's independent student newspaper:

The assembled crowd went wild when McCain came to the podium, cheering for the senator as he proceeded to entertain the crowd with a self-deprecating address similar to the one given by President Bush at Yale University that same day.

Sounds like a pretty raucous scene, no? The crowd (of hungover 21-year-olds) went wild? Not exactly my recollection, but whatever. It would be interesting to see what sort of reception McCain would receive this year given his present perch atop the Republican ticket. Something tells me he'd have to be pretty damn self-deprecating to elicit cheers from what I'd imagine is an overwhelmingly pro-Obama student body.