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New Political Challenges Require Original McCain

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 9, 2008

A different John McCain appeared at times during the Tuesday night debate. The new version was full of big promises and slick talk. We miss the straight, old original.

McCain has lost ground to Sen. Barack Obama not because Obama's ideas are superior, but because Obama believes in what he's trying to sell.

McCain is less convincing. On the economy, he promises to spend billions to keep overextended homeowners in homes they might not be able to afford. That leaves us wondering where McCain would send the bill - to the majority of homeowners who aren't in financial trouble or to our children?
Many voices are calling for direct aid to homeowners, which may be possible. But McCain, who suspended his campaign to help reach a compromise on a rescue plan, now wants to take personal credit for a costly gift to a targeted minority. Such erratic behavior is uncharacteristic of the old McCain.

On health care, McCain is pushing change for the sake of change, and unnerving workers who receive health insurance through their employers.

He also has failed to guide his vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin, who is inexperienced on the national stage. At a recent rally in Clearwater, Palin was hammering Obama's association with a former radical when someone in the audience shouted, "Kill him!" Palin let it pass. Another overwrought fan was reported to have shouted a racial epithet at a black member of a news crew. Other reporters covering the event were verbally abused by the crowd. Is this the tone the campaign seeks?

McCain has either lost control of the campaign or endorses her rough campaign tactics. With the ticket trailing in the polls, Palin's role is to excite the base, not dangerously incite it.

McCain built his reputation on his courage to follow an internal compass, even if it led him off his party's path. He often shot from the hip, but he shot straight.

He is the GOP nominee today because he hit the target so many times. He was right about demanding a troop surge in Iraq, right about the need to restore integrity to the federal budget, and right that we Americans prefer freedom to the false promise of something for nothing.

In recent months, as the Economist Magazine observed in August, "McCain has been prepared to abandon some of the core beliefs that made him so attractive." The accusation that he has replaced "sound public finances" with "naked populism" was apparent a few times during the debate.

McCain told us he could fix bad mortgages with a snap of his fingers, fix health care at no net cost, and maintain the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, all while cutting taxes. He tried to reassure us about Osama bin Laden, saying, "I know how to get him."

On the looming problem of how to pay for the nation's over-promised retirement program, McCain said, "It's not that hard to fix Social Security."

Of course it's going to be hard.

At a time when a mere nine percent of us tell pollsters we think the country is heading in the right direction, America needs the old McCain to lead us back on course. We need the one who appealed to our common sense and conservative instincts.

The way for McCain to win this election is to convince us he is unafraid to lose. To the old McCain, it would have come naturally.

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