John McCain: Man of the Middle
Duly impressed by John McCain’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Jules Crittenden writes that this year’s elections is the Republicans’ to lose. According to Jules McCain “reclaimed the vast middle ground of American politics” in his speech; most Americans, Jules argues, are exactly there, in the middle.
In this middle ”people may hold a variety of views, but value directness and character above all.”
According to Jules, McCain “severely undercut the Democratic line that he is pandering to the right” in his acceptance speech.
“America has been presented with a team that represents genuine accomplishment, character and independence. And America, I suspect, is smart enough to get that and appreciate that,” he goes on to write.
McCain’s current strategy is exactly what he needed. He had to pander to the right shortly, in order to rally the Republican base. Now, however, he needs moderates and independents - and even moderate Democrats - to support his candidacy. These are the people who supported him throughout the years, who always hoped who would win the Republican nomination some day so that America would be governed from the middle (to a degree). McCain is not a centrist, but he is independent-minded and quite moderate. He is a maverick, more than willing to take on the establishment. He is pro-life and thus very conservative on abortion, but he is pro-government action on global warming, and thus more progressive. He is someone who has a record of positive change, and who could use that record to make clear that if Americans want lasting, positive and effective change, they’d better go with him.
This is what McCain had to do, and it is what he’s doing now. This election will not be as much between change and experience, but between liberal big-government change on the one hand, and moderately conservative and pragmatical change on the other. That is, at the very least, what McCain has to tell American voters time and again.
Obama’s campaign has tried to portray McCain as a die hard partisan, where McCain has been anything but throughout his long career. He ignored his maverick credentials for a while in order to charm the conservative partisan base, now he needs to be who he truly is.
I’m thinking with Palin - it may, if they avoid mistakes - put them over the top. All hypocrisy of the left about a female VP aside - the potential is most certainly there.
This is the most powerful Republican ticket I’ve ever seen. And for the Democrats it’s the worst Democratic Ticket since Kerry + Edwards.
McCain’s speech last night was very powerful and emotional, and I think people will notice that he talked about the issues unlike Barack Obama who simply talked about the attacks against HIM, because that’s all it is for Obama, it’s all about HIM.
I cannot believe the Democrats cannot find anyone more accomplished than the lobbyist appeasing Joe Biden and an inexperienced ambitious nobody named Barack Obama.
It is gratifying to see that conservatism is still alive and well. The Democratic candidate is, at the very least, doing God’s work. He scares the hell out of me!
One has to wonder who’s actually behind him: socialists or Islamists. Some extreme group has groomed him (almost from early childhood) to become the President of the United States. We have been told over and over again that our demise will come from inside as opposed to outside.
McCain emphasizes our need to get back to the basics. This is a must. We cannot support our entire population. We need to take responsibility for our own lives. If we do as Obama suggests, take from the rich and give to the poor we will be embracing socialism. Also, who are the rich? The entrepeneurs, who risk it all, go into business and hire workers? The business owners who pay the highest taxes in the nation? Are the "rich" just going to sit back and let the slugs of our society rob them of their "riches?" No, they will pass their losses on down to the middle class consumer. The bottom line is this: if you don’t want to be poor, get off your butt and make something of yourself. In this great nation legal (and even illegal) opportunities abound. It appears to me that we all have three choices: take advantage of these opportunities and prosper, stay in the same impoverished rut and shut up or go hang yourself and let the rest of us get on with our lives.
If either candidate uses these same tactics to define their opponent, they deserve to lose.