Monthly Archives: October 2008

The Maverick Rides Into The Sunset

The moment came when McCain “suspended his campaign.” That was the moment Obama locked up this election. When faced with one of the most critical economic disasters in the last 100 years McCain pulled a political stunt. It was crazy and cheap. He would have gained much more by quietly heading back to Washington to help in earnest. But no, it had to be this big magic trick. The problem was that everyone saw the rabbit before it came out of the hat, and no one was impressed.

For anyone who noticed, the week this all started to unfold Sen. McCain changed his position about three times. “Everything is fine” to “Fire the head of the SEC!” to “Suspend the campaign!” In contrast, Obama stayed quiet and cool and waited for the dust to settle before commenting. Who looked more presidential that week?

I have a great deal of respect for Sen. McCain. I believe that he has more character and courage in his pinky toe than I will ever have my entire life. He has seen and endured more than most Americans ever will, and this has made him a man of quality. This was not that man.

Honestly, I think he may have missed his chance to be President when Dubya beat him in 2000. Now, had Bush not effed things up so badly by cowboying into Iraq we might be telling a different story today, but we’re not.

I give McCain credit. In the face of an unpopular party and war, a hopelessly biased media and an oratorically gifted opponent he has done quite well. He even had the chance to run the ball into the end zone when the Palin wave was riding high, but he and his campaign blew it by sequestering his new star, thus magnifying every misspoken word that came from her mouth in those rare and hostile interviews.

It looks to me like the writing is on the wall, barring some freakish event we are looking at Obama in 08. So where do we go from here?

From my point of view, I will hope and pray that Obama’s rhetoric of a post-partisan government will really materialize (not holding my breath). I will hope that he is really more centrist than his voting record indicates (again… not holding my breath). I will wait for the Marxist legislative horrors to hatch from the far-left to be ushered into law by Reid, Pelosi and Obama. It will be a freak show, to be sure. I will watch the Palin trajectory to either the top of the party or back into Arctic obscurity. I will watch Republicans either get back to the core conservative principles of small government and low taxes or watch them muddle around remembering when they had it good for awhile.

Mostly, I think things will be alright… I mean, it’s still America. I will be spared the word “Maverick” for awhile, and that’s good. With any luck, we will have an uneventful four years. That may not help Obama’s next opponent much in 2012, but it will sure be good for me.