Here are just a few reasons why this proposal is a bad idea.
First, this is a nifty (for McCain) attempt to capitalize on Barack's crowd draw. McCain gets small, anemic audiences. Obama gets rally attendees by the tens of thousands.
Second, in light of Number 1 above, Obama needs large venues for many of his events. Tens of thousands want to see him and would be denied their opportunity...all to help McCain get more notice.
Third, traveling to and from a town hall a week would take up too much time and thus prevent Barack Obama from introducing himself to America on his own terms. Such a proposal would advantage John McCain, not because McCain would do better (he wouldn't, as his past speeches AND town halls have shown). The corporate media is playing up the myth that McC does well at Town Halls. But this is only in a relative (relative to his speech-making performance). He performs poorly at both. But McC's proposal would prevent Barack Obama from working his fifty-state strategy. As illustrated by his inspired and inspiring trip to increasingly blue Virginia yesterday, Barack should stick to his game-plan rather than get side-tracked by the McShame grandstand par excellence.
Fourth, Barack Obama's political instincts have proven sufficient. He does not need a weekly with John McCain. As the overplayed and useless so-called primary "debates" showed, there is nothing quite so useless as too many televised "debates."
Fifth, the gimmick of having no rules and no moderator leaves McCain to pile lie upon lie (as he did in his "town hall" earlier this week. It takes too long to rebut the flurry of untruths from the no-straight-talker McCain to fit into a town hall. When you cannot trust your adversary to he honest and play fair, then it would be a mistake to cave to the "town hall" a week proposal.
Sixth, there is nothing to prevent no-rules "town halls" from being rigged set-ups. The primary "debates" were bad and shameful enough, as we learned from ABC's ruthless Clinton insider George Stephanopoulos' barrage against Barack Obama. Stephanopoulos behaved more like a Clinton team hit-man that reporter.
There are more than these six compelling reasons why Barack should not fall for this prank. But these are six important reasons why McCain Barack Obama should say no. The American people will get to know Barack Obama. As the data shows, the more they get to know him, the more they like him. So, introducing himself to Americans of all persuasions is the best strategy.
While reform of the debate process is not just desirable, but also necessary, McCain's proposal won't solve anything. But it would expand on the weaknesses of the current "debate" system.
Barack Obama doesn't need my advice. But I say, "Let Barack be Barack." Except for fact-checking McCain, we and our candidate should ignore John McShame. There's no need to wallow in the old politics, which McShame's proposal surely is. The Republican candidate is a wolf in sheep's clothing. And his proposal's got Karl Rove written all over it.