People are taking notice that John McCain knows what he’s talking about on national security matters. Recent polling shows Sen. McCain opening a significant gap over Sen. Obama on national security:

The reemergence of the national security gap comes amid the first headline-grabbing world conflict of the 2008 campaign, the Russian invasion of Georgia that highlights the potential for a dramatic military event to upend the political landscape, and likely aid McCain.

July’s NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll found that three in four Americans believe McCain can “handle” the role of commander in chief, while only 19 percent said he “cannot,” compared to a 50 percent to 42 percent split for Obama.

I can tell you from reading more than a few polls that having a +50-someting point gap between favorable vs. unfavorable is almost unheard of. Having a +8 is commonplace.

David Paul Kuhn makes a special note of Sen. McCain’s initial statement when Russia invaded Georgia vs. Sen. Obama’s neutral initial statement:

When violence between Russia and Georgia escalated to war earlier this month, McCain’s first statement demanded that “Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory.”

Obama’s first statement, by contrast, delicately avoided the question of responsibility. “Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full-scale war,” he said. Later that day, Obama blamed Russia for the invasion. By Saturday, the Democrat had moved still closer to McCain’s position: “Russia has escalated the crisis in Georgia through its clear and continued violation of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Sen. McCain’s initial statement showed the world that he understood that the invasion was Putin’s Russia flexing its muscles in an attempt to reconstruct the old Soviet empire. Sen. McCain’s statement was forceful and direct.

In contrast, Sen. Obama sounded like a deer in the headlights. I can picture him asking his advisers to get a map, asking them to point to where Georgia is. OK, that’s a little sarcastic. Still, I don’t think people feel comfortable with Sen. Obama’s handling of foreign crises.

I think the gap goes deeper than just the candidates’ initial statements. Susan Rice, a potential SecState in an Obama administration, and Tim Kaine, the possible VP choice for Sen. Obama, both embarassed themselves over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Sen. McCain campaigned in Pennsylvania last week with former Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge and Sen. Joe Lieberman. During each of his campaign stops, Sen. McCain emphasized the fact that he has a relationship with Georgia President Saakashvili going back a couple of decades and that he was in contact with President Saakashvili daily.

Pundits correctly said that Sen. McCain was walking a tightrope, noting that he had to sound firm without sounding like a warmonger. That’s precisely what Sen. McCain did. He spoke about dropping Russia out of the G-8 and denying Putin’s Russian entry into the WTO. Additionally, Sen. McCain spoke about putting Georgia and other former eastern bloc countries, especially Ukraine, on the fast track to NAATO membership.

McCain did something else that didn’t get the attention it deserves. He tied domestic drilling to the Russo-Georgian crisis. The reason why that’s important is because Russia has been flourishing with high gas prices. By increasing drilling here, prices drop on the world market, robbing Putin’s Russia of important revenue needed for its expansionist agenda.

Even Zbigniew Brzezinski noticed the difference in opening statements:

Brzezinski added, “I thought that the first comments” by Obama “were perhaps too general and didn’t perhaps address sharply enough the moral and strategic dimensions of the problem.” Obama’s later statements, he said, struck the right tone.

“In the meantime, McCain was able to leap into the timing gap,” Brzezinski continued. “Timing in all these things, timing, tone and ability to crystallize the issue sharply, is what is important.”

TRANSLATION: McCain looked authoritative; Obama looked like he wanted his advisers.

Sen. Obama won’t pass the Commander-in-Chief threshold by looking that tentative. He needs to show a greater grasp of the facts.

I understand that domestic issues will likely play a bigger role in this election than foreign policy. That said, McCain’s position on increasing energy supplies helps him more than hold his own on the economy against Sen. OBama.

That means foreign policy/national security play a more important role. If that’s what happens, that favors Sen. McCain by a significant margin.

Technorati Tags: Polling, National Security, Foreign Policy, John McCain, Barack Obama, Georgia, Russia, Invasion, NATO, WTO, Drilling, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. If McCain is such a so-called “foreign policy expert,” why did he fail miserably and get the US involved in the needless Iraq War? I would give him an “F” (similar to his real school grades) for his achievements

   Comment by Michael J — August 19, 2008 @ 6:23 am