I wrote some time ago that at the beginning of the Presidential race I could well have supported McCain over Obama. Since then, the tactics and policies adopted and proposed by the McCain campaign have turned me off. I don’t particularly blame McCain for it- I think he is a decent guy, but he has let the wrong people influence and run his campaign.

So it was quite unexpected, right in the middle of typical negative (and irrelevant) attacks on Obama, for McCain to say the following things:

In response to a supporter saying he was “scared” of an Obama presidency:

““I want to be president of the United States and obviously I do not want Senator Obama to be, but I have to tell you — I have to tell you — he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.” He got booed by his own supporters for that one.

Or, in response to a woman stating that she couldn’t vote for Obama because he was “an Arab”:

“No, ma’am, he’s a decent family man, a citizen, who I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. And that’s what this campaign is all about.”

Last time I checked, people originating from the Arab world could be decent family men and citizens of the USA, but we get McCain’s sentiment. It isn’t that surprising that he didn’t agree – he could hardly have accused Obama directly of being a Muslim, that’s left up to the campaign staff to imply. However, he didn’t need to call him “decent” or a “family man”, both of which were essentially compliments.

The NYT thinks that this reflects McCain’s “lurching campaign”- that, essentially, the campaign managers, losing ground, are desperately trying whatever tactic they can. Perhaps the decision to go negative is part of that, but I personally don’t think these statements are tactical. I think that we are seeing the real McCain come through the obfuscations of his campaign managers, that after seeing supporters at rallies shouting “kill him” in reference to Obama, or screaming racial insults at a black reporter, McCain is perhaps just a bit appalled by things. Just maybe, what we are seeing is McCain really being a “maverick” again- but this time against his own campaign.