McCain's 'Macaca' moment?

Has McCain had his 'Macaca' moment? Gosh, I certainly hope so. For the last two months, McCain has been attempting to brand Obama as the elitist candidate, and they've been inexplicably pretty successful at it. But, this morning, Senator McCain stumbled on a question concerning the number of houses he owned. And McCain didn't know, saying that he'd have to have 'my staff get to you' on the matter. It gets better.

According to Talking Points, the McCains were actively buying another vacation property at the exact same time they were congratulating Americans who were dealing with economic woes by canceling their own vacations in order to make mortgage payments.

It's not a crime or a sin to own many homes. The question reared its head in 2004 as John Kerry was asked about his five properties (in, ironically, an attempt to portray him as an elitist, a stereotype he all too easily allowed). But, in a time where the housing market is collapsing, to own at least four properties (as many as seven according to Newsweek), not be able to remember them, and then blast your single-home owning candidate as an elitist, that makes it fair game.
Yes, it's fair game because John McCain is:
- the son and grandson of admirals
- graduate of an elite private high school
- legacy admission and graduate of the Naval Academy,
- almost last place graduate of Annapolis (894 of 899) who still was awarded a plum flying assignment (in which he was promptly shot down, leading to his POW narrative)*
- who dumped his injured first wife (who waited five years for him during the war) to marry an heiress worth millions (who financed his political career)
- and, now it seems, owns more houses than he can remember...

He is the populist man of the people, right?

But Barack Obama, the candidate who
-was raised by a single mom
- had to use food stamps
- was the scholarship student
- who worked his way through college and Harvard law school (where he allegedly didn't even mention on the application that he was black - although I'm sure administrators could have guessed by his name)
- married the daughter of a municipal employee
- only just recently paid off his student loans using proceeds from a book he wrote
- only owns one home

He's the elitist and can't understand the wants and dreams of everyday working people.

Maybe this shouldn't be an issue. McCain's biography isn't any more sordid than any number of senators from both parties. In fact, taken at face value, only the failure of his first marriage is really a true moral falling in any real sense. And being rich doesn't mean that you're a lesser advocate for the middle class and the working poor. But John McCain's record has so far belied his biography, and he made it an issue the second he played the 'elitist snob' card against his far less wealthy opponent.

And good for the Obama camp for jumping on this so quickly. Politics is a contact sport and they need to start tackling.

Here's hoping that this stays in the headlines, especially heading into the democratic convention.

Scott Mendelson

* For the record, graduating at all from Annapolis is a pretty impressive achievement (although he was allegedly nearly expelled for excessive partying). The issue is that he graduated at the bottom and was still awarded a prime flying assignment.