A MAVERICK WHO NOW MUST LEAD

By Roger Simon
Fri Sep 5, 2008
ST. PAUL, Minn.

If you didn’t know that John McCain was a Republican, you might think he was running against the Republicans.

“We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us,” McCain told the Republican National Convention Thursday night. “We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption.”

John McCain is a maverick who has now done what mavericks almost never do: win. And now he must lead a party while maintaining his independence from it.

It’s a dilemma, but McCain attempted to resolve it by facing it head on. “I don’t work for a party,” he said. “I don’t work for a special interest. I don’t work for myself. I work for you.”

And to that end, McCain’s speech, like the speech of his running mate, Sarah Palin, the night before, was remarkably free of the hot-button issues like abortion, guns or gay rights that Republicans have grown used to.

When McCain referenced such issues, he did so very briefly and by using purposefully bland code. “We believe in a strong defense, work, faith, service, a culture of life, personal responsibility, the rule of law, and judges who dispense justice impartially and don’t legislate from the bench,” he said. “We believe in the values of families, neighborhoods and communities.”

And that was that. It was so far from red meat, it was barely pink meat.

Instead, McCain emphasized service, and, in a familiar phrase (familiar to some extent because a lot of other campaigns stole it), he said: “Nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself.”

It was a speech heavy on his service and sacrifice in Vietnam and reasonably light on attacking his opponent. While Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention last week in Denver had a number of semi-snide references to McCain’s age, McCain kept his blows above the belt with the possible exception of this, which might have been a reference to Obama’s alleged messianic complex: “I’m not running for president because I think I’m blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need,” McCain said. “My country saved me.”

And now McCain must save his party. Its brand, as he pointed out, has been seriously damaged over the past few years, and if McCain is to win in November, he has to appeal to more than just the social conservatives who have been energized by his selection of Palin as his running mate. He must reach independents and even some Democrats.

Palin presents a dilemma of her own. McCain’s speech, like President Bush’s address to the convention by video from the White House on Tuesday night, emphasized danger. That issue worked for the Republicans in 2004, and McCain needs it to work again this year.

“We face many dangerous threats in this dangerous world, but I’m not afraid of them, I’m prepared for them,” McCain said. “I know how the military works. I know how the world works.”

His experience, McCain said, means safety for America. “I will draw on all my experience with the world and its leaders, and all the tools at our disposal — diplomatic, economic, military and the power of our ideals — to build the foundations for a stable and enduring peace.”

Sarah Palin can make no such argument. She has the executive experience of being a governor, a mayor and a city council member, but the foreign policy experience that McCain is talking about? Where would that come from should something happen to him?

True, Obama’s own experience is limited, but that’s why he selected Joe Biden as his running mate. Though both lack executive experience.

The two tickets offer their own strengths and weaknesses, and it’s going to be quite a matchup. McCain says he is ready.

“I don’t mind a good fight,” he said Thursday night. “For reasons known only to God, I’ve had quite a few tough ones in my life.”

He’s got a tough one coming up.