Not just a 'yes' man

There are some bloggers good political bloggers out there, and then there are a few dozen or so who are exceptional on an everyday basis. John Cole is one of the exceptional ones. Here is his response to the McCain ad that came out last night and said that Barack Obama agreed with John McCain on one point after another:

"If what you took from the debate last night was that Obama simply agreed with McCain on every issue, you are, to put it simply, a fool. Now, this sort of nonsense is to be expected coming from the McCain campaign and from the professionally silly among us, but it should not be cause for concern among Democrats.

When Obama agreed with McCain last night, in almost every case it was agreeing that there is a problem so self-evident that to disagree would make one seem insane or out of touch. In almost every case he agreed in order to allow himself to gracefully contrast himself. See for yourself. In every instance he claimed McCain was right, he then went on to either contrast himself with McCain or to show that McCain’s approach to solving the issue is wrong:

“Well, I think Senator McCain’s absolutely right that we need more responsibility, but we need it not just when there’s a crisis. ”
***
“Well, Senator McCain is absolutely right that the earmarks process has been abused, which is why I suspended any requests for my home state, whether it was for senior centers or what have you, until we cleaned it up. And he’s also right that oftentimes lobbyists and special interests are the ones that are introducing these kinds of requests, although that wasn’t the case with me. But let’s be clear: Earmarks account for $18 billion in last year’s budget.”
***
“Now, John mentioned the fact that business taxes on paper are high in this country, and he’s absolutely right. Here’s the problem: There are so many loopholes that have been written into the tax code, oftentimes with support of Senator McCain, that we actually see our businesses pay effectively one of the lowest tax rates in the world.”
***
“But let’s get back to the core issue here. Senator McCain is absolutely right that the violence has been reduced as a consequence of the extraordinary sacrifice of our troops and our military families. They have done a brilliant job, and General Petraeus has done a brilliant job. But understand, that was a tactic designed to contain the damage of the previous four years of mismanagement of this war.”
***
And, John, I—you’re absolutely right that presidents have to be prudent in what they say. But, you know, coming from you, who, you know, in the past has threatened extinction for North Korea and, you know, sung songs about bombing Iran, I don’t know, you know, how credible that is.

And so on.

As you can see, Obama is clearly not agreeing with him on substance - this is Obama’s style. He works from a point of agreement, and then moves to differentiate himself and or to attack. Everything is "You are right, but…"

I know that this bothers some of you, but it is one of the things I like about Obama. I think it is a graceful and gentlemanly way of debating. Additionally, it works really well in the type of format they had last night, where they are allowed to provide lengthy comments and responses. It may not be as effective in a different type of format, where it really may seem that all Obama does is agree with someone and then get cut off by the buzzer before supplying the “yes, but.” Last night, though, it was exceptional.

Obama was able to come across as a decent, earnest, and honest fellow of integrity who was confident enough to point out when his opponent was right before contrasting the differences between the two of them, while McCain sat hunched over the podium grimacing and unable to look his opponent in the eye.

At any rate, if you still can not understand this, I propose a test. Gentlemen, the next time your wife asks if you love her, say “Yes, but there are things I wish were different about our relationship and I think I may love other women more.” The next time your wife asks you if still think she is beautiful, answer “Yes, but you are starting to sag and look a little old.” The next time she asks you if she is fat, say “No, but…”

Get back to me after you get out of the hospital."

Good stuff!