McCain in a Nutshell

Big shock, John McCain is upset again.

This time he seems a little miffed that the New York Times won't print his op-ed piece about Iraq like they printed Obama's. Actually, the op-ed isn't really about Iraq so much as it's about saying that Obama was wrong. Over and over and over again.

The telling detail in all this is a quote from Times op-ed editor David Shipley, who wrote, "The Obama piece worked for me because it offered new information (it appeared before his speech); while Senator Obama discussed Senator McCain, he also went into detail about his own plans."

I think that summarizes the general tone and tenor of the presidential election so far. Obama is running on his plans and ideas and McCain is running against Obama. That may not be a bad strategy given the state of the Republican Party and the apparent weaknesses Obama has among fairly large swaths of the electorate. Also, as has been covered many times, this election really is about Obama. The majority of Americans say they want change and so this election is a referendum on whether or not Obama is the one we want to give it to us.

There's nothing groundbreaking here. I just like it when larger truths are summed up in smaller moments.