McCain the MetaCandidate

Matt Yglesias had a smart post about Palin as the metacandidate, always talking about how she’s going to say things or who she’s saying them to instead of you know, saying them.

I noticed this last night with McCain also.

And, again, I know those situations. I’ve been in them all my life.

And I’ve been supporting those and I know how to fix this economy, and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, and stop sending $700 billion a year overseas.

But the point is that I know how to handle these crises. And Senator Obama, by saying that he would attack Pakistan, look at the context of his words. I’ll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I’ll get him. I know how to get him.

I’ll get him no matter what and I know how to do it.

I’m sure I could find more examples from the transcript if I spent more time.

While Obama is laying out plans and ideas, McCain is telling us how he has plans and ideas. He’s telling us that knows how to make a plan and execute a plan and that’s all fine and well but what is the plan? If I ever tried to fake my way through a presentation at work by talking about what a good presenter I am and reminding people of all the other presentations I’ve done and how my next presentation will be amazing but I can’t tell you know because it’s a secret — let’s just say it would not be pretty.

I think that’s part of why voters don’t respond to many of McCain’s answers. Even when he’s right (ferinstance he does have a history of reaching across the aisle) it sounds like petulant whining to simply say how much you know about issues without ever sharing that knowledge.

Update: As always, Matt says it better.

If McCain knows how to get Osama, I can understand his reluctance to describe the details of the plan to a globally televised audience. But couldn’t he have taken the opportunity sometime over the past seven years to tell George W. Bush?