McCain and His Country
- 09.04.2008 - 11:11 PMThis was an extremely patriotic speech about national restoration — and a remarkable reminder of the kind of person McCain is. But as a political matter, the best parts came whenever McCain reminded people he runs against the Washington culture. I think he could have been even more radical about the things he will change and even more outspoken about abandoning Beltway business as usual. (The line about cutting foreign aid to “countries that don’t like us very much” may have received the biggest cheer.) At one point he declared: “We need to change almost everything about the way our government works.” But McCain campaign doesn’t (yet) have the platform and ideas to meet that challenge. Too often tonight, McCain started to sound like every other Washington Senator. I think to win over the swings, he really has to stake out some positions that show, simply, clearly, that his view of government and Washington is genuinely different. He came close on school choice. But on energy, trade, even foreign policy (!) there was too much Republican boilerplate.
Of course, at the end, the speech returned, fittingly, to McCain’s experience in Vietnam and his own love of America. It was a moving, rousing conclusion. But was it enough? George H.W. Bush (in 1992) and Bob Dole made their experience and character a centerpiece of their unsuccessful run. I think that, in the next two months, McCain needs more of the independent maverick themes captured so well by Palin last night. We know he loves his country. He has to demonstrate that he is sick of its Capital.
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