Andrew Kohut wrote a weird little article on the Times‘ site today. He points out that Obama is seen as undefined, as more liberal than Clinton, and that more people think that McCain is “tough” on foreign policy than is Obama.
Kohut’s little chart indicates that independents see McCain as more conservative than they are, but he doesn’t refer to “McCain’s conservative problem,” only to “Obama’s liberal problem.” For Kohut, “tough” = “conservative” = “good.” Actual policy issues, and conservatives’ views on them, go unmentioned, as do the candidates’ policy proposals.
Kohut does bring up the point that “Concerns about Senator McCain’s tilt to the left on some issues are still voiced among sizable numbers of GOP voters.”
