john mccain is going to try to convince the american public that the iraq war is winnable. i realize mccain is hardly the first politician who has lectured to the public about an issue, and educating the voters on where he stands on an issue is part of his job.
but is it part of his job to change the public's mind about the iraq war? it's a funny reversal of the democratic ideal: the voters are sovereign, and the politicians compete for their chance to represent the public's interest. and yet we've become so used to politicians lecturing us, it doesn't strike us as strange that they are telling us what we should think about an issue instead of the other way around.
on top of that, i don't think these kinds of public education campaigns work. the public is solidly against the iraq war now, and i doubt mccain can do much to change that. while it is possible that he could get elected despite his stance on the war, he's not gonna transform the public enough to make it a plus in his presidential campaign. mccain's decision to double-down on the iraq war and go the lecture-the-public route makes me wonder whether his campaign itself is winnable.
(via atrios)
