Pundits say the economy is Obama's and foreign policy is McCain's. Not true.
Fact is, no matter what the pundits say, it's not the economy that has pushed people in Obama's court. It's that Obama has solutions to the economic problems. McCain does not.
Capturing bin Laden isn't going to help the Bush administration or McCain. First, we'd wonder why'd he capture him right now. Next, how does that boost McCain? He's erratic no matter how you slice it -- on economics and foreign policy. Sure, he's been a soldier. He was a POW. But those things don't translate into leadership and good judgment. We need a more worldly leader and McCain is anything but worldly. We need someone with the temperament to lead.
I, for one, would rather have Obama taking on the bin Ladens. McCain says he knows where he's hiding but hasn't bothered to inspire anyone to do anything about it. Of course McCain doesn't really know where he's hiding. But he probably would expend all of our resources on the single effort of capturing bin Laden.
To me, the capture of bin Laden just gives Obama one less worry when he takes over. But it won't be that much of a relief because bin Laden is just a symbol. There are many more terrorists in his wake.
This is a different election, a different time, a turning point. I think most Americans sense the urgency and the possibilities.
Swamp: Some Democrats have actually wondered if part of President Bush's push in recent weeks to capture Osama bin Laden has been in part to deliver an October surprise that would redound to the benefit of McCain and Republicans generally.
Capturing bin Laden would certainly be a boon for McCain as it would for the nation and the world. Running down bin Laden would also go a long way to helping to save Bush's legacy.
Bin Laden figures into the October-surprise concerns of Joseph Nye, a foreign-policy expert at Harvard University and former assistant Defense Secretary, also. But he's more concerned about a Jack-in-Box appearance by bin Laden of the sort that happened four years ago.
