War of Words
Throughout the presidential campaign, analysts have mentioned ad nauseum that Barack Obama is trying to identify John McCain with the policies of President Bush, while McCain is doing his best to run from those policies.
Their speeches may bear it out. According to Speechwars.com, a Web site that tracks the words each candidate uses in his speeches, Obama has uttered the word “Bush” 228 times in published speeches since 2004. McCain, on the other hand, has said the president’s name only 52 times in that same span. But Bush isn’t the only one McCain is running away from: The Arizona senator has only mentioned Dick Cheney three times, while Obama has made sure to mention the unpopular vice president 20 times.
According to the site, its “analyses are based on over 125 speeches downloaded for each candidate from their respective campaign and senatorial Web sites.”
During the same period, Obama said his buzzword, “change,” 646 times, while McCain said it only 248. “Hope”? Obama’s up 378 to 157. How about “reform”? That’s a bit closer. Obama said it 158 times; McCain, 138. Lobbyists? Obama wins again, with 127 utterances to McCain’s 20.
How often did they refer to each other? McCain said “Obama” 130 times, while Obama said “McCain” 286 times.
And neither appears to have a Bob Dole problem, referring constantly to themselves in the third person. McCain said his own name in speeches only 19 times, while Obama said his own name 45 times.
