We say you a wanksta and you need to stop frontin’

Jake Tapper reminds us that, try as he might, Obama just isn’t hardcore like John McCain:

“I am a big believer in winning,” said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, in Raleigh, NC, tonight. “I don’t intend to lose this election…John McCain doesn’t know what he is up against right now.”

Can we please put an end to all of this talk about John McCain’s “toughness?”  Yes, he deserves admiration for his time as a POW, but that was thirty years ago.  It has (or should have) absolutely no relevance on how we evaluate the John McCain of 2008, and it especially has zero relevance on how “tough” or “courageous” John McCain is now.  Indeed, these days, John McCain is pretty clearly a thin-skinned, whiny, petulant teenager stuck in a 70-year old body.  If you haven’t noticed, every time he is challenged, or called out, he either complains about how “unfair” it is, or takes umbrage at the mere suggestion that he might be in the wrong.  Which is funny, because he spends a good chunk of time impugning the character of his opponents.  His entire argumentation style boils down to “I care about the country, and they don’t, because they are America-haters.”  A perfect example of all of this is his campaign’s response to accusations from the Obama campaign that he cheated at the Saddleback forum this past weekend*:

“The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous,” [Nikole Wallace, a spokeswoman for Mr. McCain] said.

How does being a POW have anything to do with ethical choices made in the present?  I’m not sure if McCain realizes this, but being a POW isn’t an ethical get out of jail free card, it doesn’t allow you to dodge criticism and generally act like a whiny-ass titty baby all of the time.    I would wet my pants with joy if Obama decided to stop playing this stupid game, and began calling out John McCain every time he threw a temper tantrum about being criticized.  It would provide a nice comparison with that other president who wet his diapers whenever someone asked him a tough question.  You know, President Bush.

* Ezra Klein points out how this response can literally be tailored to anything.  For example, “The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, prefers the Return of the Jedi to the Empire Strikes Back is outrageous.”