...by making him look even older than he really is. Meanwhile, high-definition Obama looks even more marvelous. Well, here are two facts: Our society is rapidly aging, and we’re seemingly more repulsed than ever by the way old people actually look. Maybe Mac can (implicitly) campaign against our vain, uncourageous, superficial youth culture by proudly distinguishing himself from those who attempt various extreme make-overs not to look their age or hide the inevitable ravages of time. This might not work: I’ve been noticing that old ladies really like the way Barack looks, and there is, unfortunately, nothing wrong with that. Or it might work: Is he too pretty (or unrugged--even JFK looked rugged by comparison) to be president? (Thanks to Ivan the K.)
He needs to alter the narrative from he's old, to he's seasoned, he's seen it all, he's weathered the storm, he's answered the bell.
That requires some fine-tuning. But you get the gist.
That can be done by the way. McCain can easily brush aside such concerns by drily noting "I'd look better, ------------------ but for some, {pause and a chuckle} "enthusastic" interrogators working me over, ----------------------- they let me know they just didn't {start smiling at your own witticism} like the young and handsome Lieutenant Commander McCain." McCain is old school, he can deliver that kind of line in his sleep. He needs to use his "oldness" as a way of reinforcing the distance and the gap between him, and the adolescent like false messiah. The answer isn't to try to spruce him up, the answer is to drive home what he is, rugged, tested, seasoned. There's a good chunk of the American electorate yet capable of responding to that message.
A good military commander can take weakness and turn it into an advantage. Likewise a canny political operator.
Why is nobody on the right side of things talking about Brooks' very clever column today? It proposes another unifying, honorable theme for his campaign.
McCain's, I mean.