Cross-Cultural Blog

I totally agree upon what you have said, because McCain instead of working on himself as a candidate and try to enhance his presidential plan, he keeps on mentioning that Obama’s history is ambiguous, and he is opposing the current president and saying that he is not Bush and eventually asking people to post any embarrassing videos of Obama as you said before. However, I also think that McCain fears the immense amount of votes that Obama receives from the American people, so he is sneakily trying to grab his fans in an axiomatic way. In addition, the American people are very intelligent and smart enough to figure out who is the best to be the coming president without being deceived by this cheap way of gaining votes. I hope Obama would win.

Senator John McCain didn't use any logic throughout his campaigning. Instead, he is trying to focus more on the emotional part of the American citizens. This can be shown on the front page of his website(the video talking about his history). In addition, he usually criticizes the persona of Senator Barack Obama; Senator John McCain directed his campaign mostly on personal issues rather than issues important for the States and the citizens. Moreover, some information has recently leaked out of senator John McCain's campaign regarding Mrs Sarah Palin's misuse of her position, planning to be USA persident in the future time. This shows how unorganised Senator McCain's campaign is. On the other hand, Senator Obama and his team seem to be confidently getting closer to the white house. He is scoring a success everyday that proves him worthy to be the next president of the States. This can be shown from the difference in points between Obama and McCain (10 points for Obama).

McCain isn't good enough to be the next president of the United States by all means. The senator John McCain seems to be using his tactics that he learned in the naval academy since he was present in the Vietnam War. Therefore, he is trying to move people's emotions with the video on his website in order to gain their votes. Basically depending on the fact that he was a fighter in war but actually this characteristic isnt seen in his campaign. Moreover, Mccain campaign is mainly continuing what George W. Bush has started which is mainly against all americans need. On the other hand Obama seems to be on the top of the election due to his well organized campaign and the unlimited number of people who support his ideas of change. Mccain is pretending to be the best while Obama is actually the best.

I totally agree that each candidate has to use different ways in which to tackle their positions, and gain votes.. Above though, you mentioned that McCain's defense mechanism is "unethical to the Arab World". Just one question: Why does it matter if it's ethical or not to the Arab world?? It's not like he's doing this for our country.. Honestly, I don't find it at all unethical, and i think that in the States, it isn't either. I don't think he would have done so if it was.
Using Obama's statement that He is not Bush was very wise of him, not because he is a republican, and a friend of Bush, means that they are equal and have the same beliefs!
And maybe by being a critic to Obama isn't a bad idea, it is not a weakness, it is just showing why people should vote for him instead of Obama, it's like proving himself. It might not be the best strategy, but it is one that works.
I just want to give my opinion on what I think about tackling the "personal" side of Obama: McCain & Palin have also been tackled many times by Obama and his group! especially Palin: how she's a woman, she's young, not good enough, her daughter's pregnancy... etc. This just shows that the people who support Obama still don't want change, probably the real change would have been electing Hilary, or Palin (as VP).. it clearly shows that the supporters of Obama have issues with women, since they criticize them like this all the time.
And by the way, the issue about Palin's daughter's pregnancy, I know it might not be acceptable, im not saying that what happened is okay.. but at the same time, we ALL make mistakes! And to assure that what she believes in is what she really lives, is that her daughter won't have an abortion, but get engaged. Whereas, Obama isn't clear about his faith or beliefs, he isn't direct- its like he's hiding something which can't be exposed- and this is something very important, as I don't think American citizens are really ready for such change... How can they really know what they are getting themselves into? good change or a bad change?
I don't agree that McCain is weak and lacks good ideas.. I think he is just using a different technique.
The votes are very close, and there is still hope for McCain to win!
From past elections, it is known that even if democrats might seem to win, Republicans usually do at the last minute.

I totally agree that McCain’s use of attracting audiences shows his weakness and lack of appeals. I think that McCain should never use anything against Obama in order for him to attract people, at least not publicly on his website. I agree that McCain should not show that he’s better than Obama, I think that he should find an attractive way to demonstrate his ideas and plans that will attract the people. People should vote for McCain because they are convinced with his points of view, not because he’s trying to show that he’s the best. People do so with any candidate not only McCain. However, I don’t agree that it is expected from McCain to attack Obama’s taxes and economic plan; because I think that McCain should rather come up with a better and more effective way than Obama’s if he thinks that Obama’s plan is unsuccessful. I also agree with the summary that McCain’s actions shows and prove that he doesn’t have strong ideas to support the Americans. There’s also a page in McCain’s website that shows a table with ‘Obama’s lies’ and ‘The real Obama’. Personally I’m not a voting person, but if I am going to vote, I won’t vote for a person that attacks and asks for embarrassing videos of his opponent.

I totally agree that McCain has a problem with his campaign as he is constantly trying to prove himself to be better and is making such a public display of it to. But by him using such tactics he tends to show he’s weak. McCain should be more concerned with trying to build his campaign and proving what he can do instead of trying to make his opponent look bad. This is a sign of his weakness and will probably bring him back as it shows he’s really not up to the job as he can’t even prove him self, let alone run a country. He’s trying to play the game dirty and believes that by making his opponent look bad he’s wining over the voters. But this theory seems to be working against him with the media constantly commenting on his actions and reinforcing the knowledge of his weakness. McCain, if he chooses to play a game should play it right. If from the time of the campaign all he can do is try to make his opponent look bad then he'll probably have a lot of problems and it makes you really wonder, that if he were to win and become president, would he really be up to the job.

I totally agree that McCain has been using cheap tricks in order to attract voters; McCain should have focused on developing his plans and enhancing ideas, instead of attacking Obama, I mean attacking your opponent can sometimes be a successful strategy; however one must have something to backup his views. But still attacking your opponent mostly happens when one is ''weak'' or hopeless; successful or not attacking your opponent is an ''unethical'' strartegy. Yet McCain took to far when he asked people to bring him embarrassing videos on Obama, mow this is not a presidential behavior. After all Obama won because he did have a better agenda for the future of the United States.

I completely agree with the idea that McCain was not focusing his target to make the Americans vote for him instead, he was focusing how to make them see that Obama is not the right person to be the next president.Also to ask people to post any embarrassing videos against Obama is very weak and cheap way to bring down Obama. McCain campaign was not well prepared to show people why he should be the next president but instead the campaign was to show people the bad side of Obama.This is one of the many reasons that McCain lost the presidency; and Obama won because his total focus was how to make americans have faith in him that he will lead to a better United States.

During the elections, Mcain was proven to be unethical through his debates and strategies. Mcain focused on attacking Obama, showing his weaknesses and faulting his strengths. He got to the extent where he was urging people to even show off the embarrassing videos they’ve got of Obama. Mcain’s fear of obama and loss of the elections drifted him from the main target, which is to show a better image of himself. For instance, Mcain attacked obama’s economic plans in general, meanwhile, his economic plans were not really clear to Americans. Such strategy was aiming to grant Mcain the sound of Obama’s voters. But since both candidates were heading towards a better future for America, it was Mcain’s loss and Mcain ended up granting Obama his voters. As a result, his strategy was not appealing enough to Americans and at the same time, it took away the essence of competition from Mcain as this strategy only made his plans and points weaker as well as showed his fears. Mcain’s game was not played smart, infact it was in favour of Obama.

I definitely agree; I highly disagreed with McCain's decision to attack Obama's character instead of his policies. On the other hand, Obama's ads were not entirely blameless; for example, he released ads attacking McCain's running mate Sarah Palin. Just out of fairness, I feel it needed to be said: McCain is not the only one at fault, here.

Still, I feel that McCain's ads were far more likely to be negative, and more vicious when they were. But then, I'm an Obama supporter and am probably biased. Still, exit polls showed voters felt McCain was running the more negative campaign (http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/30/politics/horserace/entry4558738.shtml)
so maybe I'm not totally biased :) That means that data proved you right; American voters agreed with what you said, and McCain's strategy was ultimately a poor decision that cost him votes.

I do not believe McCain's emotional campaign strategy is what lost him the election. Sadly, emotional campaigning is often what drives the U.S. American vote. If one examines what is news worthy in the United States in regards to the most recent presidential campaigns one finds stories about Sara Palin's pregnant daughter, Obama's sick grandmother, and disapproval of Obama's pastor. Related the "the issues" I don't think so. I think the difference between Obama's campaign and McCain's was as mentioned earlier, McCain's campaign had no choice but to start out on the defense. Obama with no attachment to Bush's presidency could present himself in a clean and positive way, building on positive emotions, an advantage McCain did not have. I do not believe any candidate who worked closely with Bush had a chance to win the election regardless of their campaign strategy.

I do not believe McCain's emotional campaign strategy is what lost him the election. Sadly, emotional campaigning is often what drives the U.S. American vote. If one examines what is news worthy in the United States in regards to the most recent presidential campaigns one finds stories about Sara Palin's pregnant daughter, Obama's sick grandmother, and disapproval of Obama's pastor. Related the "the issues" I don't think so. I think the difference between Obama's campaign and McCain's was as mentioned earlier, McCain's campaign had no choice but to start out on the defense. Obama with no attachment to Bush's presidency could present himself in a clean and positive way, building on positive emotions, an advantage McCain did not have. I do not believe any candidate who worked closely with Bush had a chance to win the election regardless of their campaign strategy.

I lately surfed through both sites, the one of McCain and the one of Obama. they both go by different strategies.
Obama is trying to give people hope specially about the economic crisis by listing an agenda on his website in which he is trying to show America that he is going by the words of his slogan which are "Change , we can believe in "
while i see that McCain has used a really interesting strategy in which he appears to be the patriot guy who wishes the best for America no matter who is the president as long as that person is qualified by writing a congratulations message for Obama on the front page of his website.in which by this i see that McCain is trying to enhance his reputation in front of America after having a lot of people against his side.

Macain strategies since the beginning of the election campaign were so emotional and heart touching. His target was to make americans focus mainly on him and not on obama. He worked on doing that by mentioning that obama is bad and he is not capable to be the next US president. On the other hand, obama is working on the right track trying to do his best to solve the american finical crises. This is what he focused on in his campaign. At last the americans had the right to choose who best can lead them to a better life. Therefore, i conclude that Macain strategies weren't useful and he just have used a different way other than critiquing his opponent Obama.

When we compare the strengths and weaknesses of different campaign websites, I think it is important to put ourselves in the candidates' own shoes. Mccain did focus more on personal attack and defense, but it might be the optimal strategy for him to gain votes.
Obama did a great job building his image as a candidate who would bring hopes and changes. His multi-racial background and previous experience in the senate qualifies his argument. Also, do not forget that quite a lot of Americans have had enough of the Republican administration! Even if we do not buy into all arguments by Obama's campaign, we do not think Mccain will be any better. Given this situation for Mccain, he is definitely not appealing to voters in terms of "newness." I think he has done his best in bulding the image of a "natural hero." It is just the historical trend that turns over the republicans.