No matter how hard John McCain tried to play the "cool" dude with energy to spare; and no matter how many times John McCain said he was "ready to lead," and no matter his insistence he had the experience to start from "day one," the impression he often gave was of a somewhat confused, older man, out of touch with the reality of the world in which he lived.In the February 2 issue of Time magazine, managing editor Rick Stengel takes note of the massive technological changes that have occurred in the past 47 years:
"In 1961, when TIME showed on the cover a photograph of John F. Kennedy taking the oath of office as the nation's 35th President, it was the first time we had put a presidential Inauguration on the magazine's cover. At the time, it was also the fastest cover close in the magazine's history.
"The photo was shot and processed in Washington in about three hours, then the art director took the transparencies on a plane to Chicago, where they were taken to TIME's central printing plant, where a color engraving was produced. Then those images were taken by air to printing plants in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington and Albany, NY. All in all, about 36 hours.
"Now it's almost instantaneous and done completely digitally."
When I read that, one difference between John McCain and Barack Obama became starkly obvious. John McCain did not know how to send an e-mail which gave many the impression he was technologically challenged. Barack Obama, as it turned out, is technologically savvy and hired people who were technological geniuses and put together a campaign that was fueled and driven in large part by the Internet.
John McCain always gave the impression he would be much more comfortable and "at home" if it was 1963 again.
And it may well be that is one more reason John McCain lost the election.
