Palin on...

Okay, when Obama picked Biden we glanced at the veep candidate's position on the Patriot Act (he wrote it - Ashcroft stole it: "...the bill John Ashcroft sent up was my bill"), on Arabs, Persians, or whoever those people were who attacked us on 9/11 (America needs to show the Arab world that we're not bent on its destruction. "Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran," <...> Biden's admirers spin his undisciplined chatter as a kind of John McCain-esque straight talk), and on Iraq (split it into 3 countries).

So in fairness, now that McCain has made a choice, we should examine her positions on the same. But I got nothin'. I know she - like McCain and Biden - has a son who is going to serve (or already has) in Iraq, though unlike the elder statesmen, her son is a junior enlisted troop. And I just heard her praise McCain's unswerving support to Iraq, so there's that.

But since she's a newcomer to the national stage there aren't a whole lot of quotes available. So in an attempt to remain politically neutral, here's the official Obama response to McCain's pick: "Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency".

Veep debates will indeed be interesting. I have no idea how she (or anyone) will be able to respond off the cuff to the sort of unexpected verbal hand grenades the venerable Biden might launch (first guess: stunned look of confusion or disbelief) and I'm not sure if all the coaching in the world can prepare anyone for what might come. Should be fun to watch.

For what it's worth: McCain and Palin certainly looked more comfortable in their first public hug then Obama and Biden did. (But please don't take that as an endorsement of anyone or anything.)

This is the man I met at the White House

President makes a stop at Eielson AirForce Base

A short time later, the Secret Service opened the door and President Bush walked in. I thought we might get to shake his hand as he went through. But instead, he walked up to my wife with his arms wide, pulled her in for a hug and a kiss, and said, "I wish I could heal the hole in your heart." He then grabbed me for a hug, as well as each of our sons. Then he turned and said, "Everybody out."

A few seconds later, the four of us were completely alone behind closed doors with the President of the United States and not a Secret Service agent in sight.

He said, "Come on, let's sit down and talk." He pulled up a chair at the side of the room, and we sat down next to him. He looked a little tired from his trip, and he noticed that his shoes were scuffed up from leaning over concrete barriers to shake hands and pose for photos. He slumped down the chair, completely relaxed, smiled, and suddenly was no longer the President - he was just a guy with a job, sitting around talking with us like a family member at a barbeque.

VOTE!

...for Eisenhower!

McCain and the OODA Loop

Who would have guessed that Sen. John McCain would be beating the pants off of Sen. Barack Obama on the YouTube centric, political web-enabled battle space?

Anybody who knows anything about John Boyd’s conception of the OODA Loop, and knows that John McCain flew fighter jets.

Here’s the essential primer from the indispensable Bill Whittle:

Observe.
Orient.
Decide.
Act.

Then Observe.
Orient.
Decide.
Act.

Then Observe…

It’s a cycle. It’s a loop. It’s called by its inelegant acronym: The OODA loop.

Now here’s what blew my mind, as I am sure it blew John Boyd’s mind on a level I can not and will never fully comprehend:

The winner of these battles is not necessarily the fellow who makes the best decisions. More often than not, it’s the guy who makes the fastest decisions.

Agility. Speed. Precision. Lethality. Fingerspitzengefuhl: fingertip control.

McCain has gotten inside Obama’s OODA Loop. Before the worshipful coverage has barely hit its crest, McCain launches the Obama as Shallow Celebrity campaign. Before the Unity Set Piece has played itself out, McCain’s campaign is blasting away at the pounds of flesh the Clinton’s are exacting from Obama.

Biden picked as VP, and without a blink of a news cycle, Team McCain has clips available documenting all the disparaging things Biden said about Obama during his 3 second Presidential Campaign. Georgia, Rezko, Ayers, every news item that at all promises a hold on news attention, and McCain is out in front, Obama lagging and sagging behind.

Not only does the McCain campaign react instantly to every exploitable gaffe, emerging event, or unpleasantness that will damage Obama or enhance McCain, flooding the media space with generally high quality ads and videos, but now McCain plays Obama’s coronation day perfectly: McCain: Job Well Done, Barack.

McCain can afford to let it rest, while seemingly displaying the rarest of qualities: an appreciation of his opponent’s accomplishment. Because he knows he’s already won the OODA Loop.

John McCain is a fighter pilot who certainly knows Boyd’s OODA Loop. Nice to see he found how to apply OODA to running a Presidential Campaign.

(Via The Corner)

(Cross-posted at Dadmanly)