Mike Allen reports on why McCain has been so grumpy lately: “McCain is miserable about having to run a campaign that’s antithetical to his persona.”
But what friends call “grumpy McCain” is showing up regularly on the campaign trail, and several top advisers worry that it’s hurting his campaign by making him appear peevish and hunkered down when the country is looking for a larger and more optimistic brand of leadership.
After his first debate with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), both spectators in the hall and commentators on TV noted that McCain had deliberately avoided looking at his rival.
A close McCain friend said the reason is clear: McCain is miserable about having to run a campaign that’s antithetical to his persona.
“He is basically having to be somebody that he isn’t,” said the friend, who remains strongly supportive. “He is just not a guy that goes on the attack in public. For him to be on the attack constantly, attacking Obama’s character … McCain is uncomfortable with that, and it’s made him grumpy.”
John McCain would be the first to tell you that it’s a struggle to be an honorable person in such a shameless world.
Late Update: TPM Reader KB:
Shorter Mike Allen: Stuck running a corrosively negative campaign that has been forced upon him by Obama’s success in the polls, John McCain has at times appeared frustrated by his own inability to exert free will.
