Icepicks and Nukes

With George W. Bush on the sidelines during the final days of the election, the Obama campaign got the next best thing (or arguably, something better from their perspective): Dick Cheney’s public endorsement of John McCain.

It probably wasn’t his intention, but Cheney just handed the Obama campaign a whole new case of ammunition to use against McCain during the final days. Cheney’s approval ratings are lower than President Bush’s, 18 percent in a Harris poll taken last June, in part because he genuinely did not care about his personal poll numbers during his entire vice presidency because he was never going to run for the top job this year.

There is something liberating about having an attitude or mindset like that in any politician, but I wonder whether or not it affected his political antenna. Nobody but the most die-hard Republicans is excited about Cheney, and he is not the most effective messenger for undecided voters especially when the ballot is by extension a referendum on the eight years the administration he served was in power.

And to absolutely no one’s surprise, Obama pounced on the endorsement.

I doubt any voters are going to make their decision in the booth based on Dick Cheney’s endorsement. The flap here from the Republican perspective is that it’s a last-minute reinforcement of Obama’s “McCain=Bush” message which has been very effective as an attack strategy.