by Dennis Copson

Created on: November 12, 2008

The Seven Sins That Afflicted John McCain: Why He Lost and Obama Won

On November 4th, 2008, Americans went to the polls to choose the 44th President of the United States. They did so with a convincing declaration that they were unhappy with the status quo in Washington, D. C. and wanted change dramatic change! They rejected experienced John McCain with passion and in convincing numbers, and selected an untested Barack Obama.

John McCain and the Republicans lost this election in an astounding defeat even in times like these - perhaps one of the worst showings by Republicans in modern American history. McCain's downfall also contributed to the disastrous loss of the House and Senate to a near filibuster-proof Democratic majority which will have ramifications for years to come. There were seven main causes of this, the seven sins that afflicted John McCain:

First and foremost was the Bush Factor'. George Bush ends his Presidency with one of the lowest approval ratings in history. Though not all his fault, GW failed to sustain the confidence of the American people for perhaps five of his eight years in office. Except immediately following his response to 9/11 - his attack on the Taliban /Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan - the 43rd President began to steadily lose his popular support with Americans owing to several significant blunders.

Principally was attacking Iraq before Afghanistan was under control and the subsequent revelations of the flaws in his reasoning for doing so. There were no weapons of mass destruction to be found. We were not welcomed with flowers and cheering crowds in the streets. It was not a quick in-and-out victory as predicted. Instead what was to have been a short war of liberation has become an expensive, lingering war of attrition wearing on the patience of the American public.

It is beyond debate that the world is a better place without the Hussein's in it; however, the timing could not have been worse for McCain. The American people, a fast food society, have become disinterested and have distanced themselves from the noble cause of war fighting. They want to end it and to get on with their lives however it can be ended, quickly. Obama promised to do so while McCain equivocated - once even impertinently suggesting, not seriously I suspect, that we could be there for a hundred years.

Another major distracter was the Bush economic policies or lack thereof. Economic collapse, precipitated late in the campaign, could not have come at a more inopportune

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