Sen. McCain calls out the President on helicopter contracts — handled well or not?
Sen. McCain called out President Obama on a contract for White House helicopters at a press conference yesterday and it got a lot of media play by the networks. But was it handled well or not?I’m all for the concept of “the loyal opposition” in the politics of a democracy: the idea that those who lose an election owe it their supporters and to the nation to watchfully, even boldly, oppose (peacefully) those in power when they need to be called to the mark.
But I have to suspect the exchange you’ll see in the video below was at least partly a case of Sen. McCain grabbing the spotlight to verbally “tweak” President Obama over a matter that could have been better handled in a phone call or personal question instead of at a public press conference covered by the networks. It was somewhat “all in good fun,” and I won’t imply that I’m “outraged” or even upset about it. But it probably (as Chris Matthews mentioned on his show today) could have been done more tactfully between McCain and Obama. Take a look at the video, then I’ll say one thing more about it below the video:
I only want to add one more thing, and I haven’t “fact checked” it, but — various media reports since this public appearance have said the contract for the big-money helicopters was made under President Bush’s Administration, and is simply now being fulfilled under Obama’s Administration. And as you’ve seen in the video, Obama already has Defense Secretary Gates working on the whole boondoggle. (I love the sound of “boondoggle” and always wanted to use it!)
Bottom line: We’re talking about big money here, not something as light-weight and cheap as industrial knobs for a tool cabinet or workshop. So, of course, it is important to cut waste here, if the choppers really are being done wastefully. The issue is how it is handled as much as anything.
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Considering that it was Bush who ordered those helicopters, and not Obama, I would say it was handled poorly by McCain.