Quote:
Originally Posted by archetypal fool
It's sad - using someone else's pain and loss as a basis for personal political gain. And as awkward and out-of-place as it felt, I feel that it was a necessary move by Obama. The fact that McCain brought it up first was despicable in itself, but it would have been sadder if Obama hadn't said anything and the right could champion their wonderfully compassionate McCain, who wears a bracelet of a dead soldier (supposedly in solidarity, and not for political points) - which would have made the cheap appeal to emotion successful.
If Obama hadn't said anything, it would have looked bad for him ("well... HE doesn't have a bracelet... I guess that means he doesn't care about the death of our troops!"... yes... a good deal of the population is that shallow), and I doubt he would have brought it up if not for McCain's disgusting appeal to emotion.
All that aside, the duality of the the two mothers' responses to the deaths of their sons is very interesting... one says "don't let my son's death be in vein; finish the fight," while the other says "I don't want any other mother to go through what I've gone through." ... it's an analog to the way the US is split on the issue of the war(s).
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Very well said. I thought it was an awkward moment as well--but I really doubt Obama would have busted out that bracelet if McCain hadn't done it first. It was more like he was wearing it for debate insurance than for politics, but maybe it's all the same thing.
I despised that way McCain continually laughed at Obama (without even acknowledging him, as I keep saying)--I felt that Obama really was the bigger man here. He chuckled a few times when he heard McCain lying about something, but otherwise he maintained his composure and professionalism. McCain, on the other hand, sounded like a jackdaw imitating Bush every time he laughed... and WTF is with his KGB obsession? Hello!