You're grasping at straws here, Judis. McCain and his wife adopted a nonwhite child from Asia. He's repeatedly gone against the grain, at personal and political cost, of his party regarding Mexican immigration, calling the Mexicans "God's children." It should be obvious to anyone who's watched the man over the years that his use of "American" in this context is meant to play up his leadership credentials on foreign policy and associate himself with a robust defense of the national interest.

Didn't see the ad, but at a guess it's as opposed to "Republican President" or "Democratic President". Stresses unity over partisanship.

Exactly, davidrh. He's also laying a trap for us, encouraging excitable Dems to sneer at "American" and position themselves in the minds of blue-collar swing voters as supporters of Samantha Power-style internationalism and US-bashing.

Let's be smart about this. For once.

tep, I didn't read it like you did or like Judis did. I was reminded of an old story, probably apocryphal, told of Al Gore's father, who is said once to have made his campaign slogan for reelection to the Senate from Tennessee, "Gore Believes." Until he was caught flat-footed with no prepared response when a reporter asked, "Gore believes what?" So he unveiled a new slogan: "Gore Believes in Tennessee."

Which is to say, the only reason you would use the word "America" twice in one campaign slogan is because you don't have anything meaningful to say about yourself. I think people understand that they're not voting for prime minister of Canada. This is the kind of lazy, substance-free campaign that Dole ran in 1996; one hopes for McCain's sake that this doesn't last as a campaign slogan.

Alternately, it might simply show that McCain has intensely stupid people making decisions about his campaign. Any one of us could think of a half dozen alternate slogans that would be shorter, communicate a more positive, quasi-substantive message about McCain, and make the word "America" an even stronger, more prominent element. "Leadership for America," for example. Even "The Next American President," vapid as it would be, would at least sound confident, rather than the vaguely pleading tone of the slogan in question here.

You guys are forgetting the often-mocked line from Obama's speeches that I suspect McCain may have been alluding to: "WE are the change WE have been waiting for!"

context is everything. using the word "american" twice like that, with only two words in between them, and on the heels of bill clinton's praise of him and hillary as patriotic, how is this supposed to hit us? It COULD be the unity thing - not the president of red america, to paraphrase somebody - that is a possible alternative explanation. but nothing is accidental, and the repetition is so awkward that it really stands out. I'll have to see the ad, of course. If the phrase comes as he's shaking hands with latte-drinkers with berets on their heads, or black people [who are not considered american by pat buchanan, someone pointed out somewhere in an analysis of the language of his printed response to obama's race speech], or mexican-americans [not likely], then that's what he was going for. I have to see the picture. I love analyzing ads. I also have the flu at the moment.

To be honest, I doubt many people will even notice any underlying meaning behind it at all, I doubt they will even notice it with one American blending into the other. Like most true banalities this one will just drift on by. It is only anal retentive political junkies (ie. everyone who reads TNR) who notice such things

I disagree, as I said on Mike's post, that he's right.   This is a dogwhistle call to remind those SUV drivers with magnets on the bumper that McCain is "one of us" whereas Barack Hussein Obama is guilty of not wearing a lapel pin on one occasion, so he is pretty much a Muslim Indonesian/African spy!

Blackton... I wanted to say you were correct in your assessment, but on rereading... no it has subliminal resonance.  It iow they will replay, endless an effective reprise of the Bill Clinton statement about 2 people who really love America... as of course Obama who supposedly does not.  And you know they will replay endlessly Wright's God damn etc..The two will go very nicely.  I know lots of Obama supporters in the primary who continue to be really disturbed by some of the more outrageous positions of Wright on all sorts of things... that is going to be a heavy cross to bear.  It will not go away and it will play in a far larger audience over time and with repetition than unfortunately any speech however well given is going to be able to throughly dissipate.

Question becomes whether McCain will be seen as cognitively impaired because of his age... that is the subliminal concern on the other side of the equation... particularly in what promises to be increasingly troubled economic times...

You got to wonder who, besides, Hillary would want the job at this conjunction.

ok it's up on the Stump.

It seems to be all about the war, and how McCain believes Americans will do the right thing and not surrender because they're Americans, as is he, and Americans don't surrender. It didn't hit me the way the Bill C comment did, but as standard cliche stuff.

Who are you calling retentive Blackton? I may be a banal, anal, misinformed ignorant populist but by Jesus boy I'll have you, if you call me retentive again.

TNR needs to fill web space, that's all you need to know.

Come on general, lets have 'em. Anyone else bored with the primaries yet?

It MAY be a subliminal message, as Mr. Judis suggests.  But in the end, so what?  It is ABSOLUTELY NOT something to which either Obama or anyone associated with his campaign should directlry respond.  It would only alert the somnolent to precisely the message that McCain may be trying to send.

The only response for Obama should be to ramp up his own patriotic shtick--lots of videos of Obama reciting  the Pledge, or speaking on the meaning of patriotism, or whatever.  Combat the image, not the ad.

Stgla is right, I honestly think it's aimed at Obama.  My mother has gotten around to being an Obama supporter after I convinced her that many things she believed about him were false.  At first she though his name alone was too strange and he had to be Muslim or something un-American.  I can see McCain's slogan just reinforcing that meme in a subtle way.

You can't smear McCain.

Is everybody racict? Clinton, McCain ...

You wouldn't be able to place the race card against McCain. It's not primaries anymore. Evebody who could buy race card b-t from Obama is already for him.

what tim t said. Don't take the bait, folks. Ignore it.

tep yes tim t is right, and O should do exactly that, but it's still fun to analyze. entre nous and all.

A PANAMANIAN President that America's been waiting for....