(2/20/2008) McCain Campaign SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
SWOT Analysis by Sam Mishra, President, Franteractive
In the aftermath of the Wisconsin primaries, Senator Obama finds his inspirational rhetoric under attack from senators Clinton and McCain. In particular, McCain has gone on the rampage, attacking Obama's presidential aspirations and candidature as empty rhetoric. This is a good sign for the Obama campaign, since the would-be-Republican nominee is already assuming that his opponent from the Democratic party would be Obama, and not Hillary.To assess a competitor seriously, corporations rely upon what is called a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of the competition. In similar vain, what is illustrated below is a SWOT of the McCain campaign, through the competitive analysis lens of the Obama campaign. In the process, the reader will get clarity on what a SWOT really is. A strength is different from an opportunity. An weakness is different from a threat. The analysis below clarifies these four concepts further:
In the above depiction, strengths and weaknesses refer to the internal environment, whereas opportunities and threats refer to the external environment. So, another September 11 like attack would clearly be an opportunity for McCain, since he is such a good candidate when it comes to national security, thanks to his record as an American war hero (now his son is fighting in the Iraq war too). Please note that such a terrorist attack would be part of the wider external environment which the McCain campaign does not control, hence it is listed as an opportunity.
Similarly, the McCain campaign does not control who the Democratic nominee would be. In other words, the Democratic nomination is external to the Republican campaign of John McCain. Since it is somewhat accepted right now that McCain would be able to beat Hillary in a general election, Hillary's nomination is in the opportunities quadrant. I have already provided three bullet points in the SWOT diagram itself as to why / how Hillary could lose to McCain, so I need not repeat those here. As opposed to Hillary's, Obama's nomination is in the threats quadrant for three reasons. Reason# 1 is the fact that the McCain SWOT presented above is as an Obama campaign strategist would like to depict it, and he / she would love to assume that Obama would be able to handsomely oppose McCain (and win) in a general election. Reason# 2 is it could very well happen this November that Obama would be able to defeat McCain. Reason# 3 is the verbal attack on Obama by McCain, we already witnessed it in the McCain victory speech after the Wisconsin primary --- so Obama is already a threat to McCain.
I need not elaborate on the strengths and weaknesses of John McCain and his campaign, because they are self-explanatory. These are internal factors and hard to change. For example, McCain has flip-flopped on all the issues as portrayed in the SWOT. You will be able to get the details on each one if you browse the Internet…
For the purpose of analysis / strategy formulation, let's assume that the SWOT diagram above is what the Obama strategists agree on. Now, how can they turn it into actionable items? Following are some ideas:
1. Attack the strength quadrant itself: Hit McCain hard on the War issue --- more Americans are disillusioned with the Iraq war than ever before. It is cutting into the economy --- more people are in foreclosures than any time in the history of this nation, house prices are going down, money from the war could be diverted towards a plan where every American can get health-care, etc.
2. Hit McCain hard his weaknesses --- his changing stands on crucial issues like immigration, tax cuts for the rich, Roe vs. Wade, torturing of prisoners of war through water-boarding and other painful means, etc. Tie his flip-flopping to his old age, may be?
3. Point to Democrats the opportunity McCain will have if Hillary were to be the nominee --- people want to avoid pain if they can --- Democrats don't want the pain of having to do another Bush like Republican in the White House --- and if Hillary were to be the nominee --- how she could lose to McCain…
4. Keep marketing the fact that McCain already acknowledges the threat in Obama --- his recent speeches prove as much. Articulate to the American public how Obama has the best advisors (and so his rhetoric is not empty, but full of actionable items which will bring meaningful change in the lives of rank-and-file Americans, etc.), how Obama can beat McCain, etc.
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