In the wake of the final day of the RNC and the NBA-style speech of John McCain (boring until the last 5 minutes), there seems to be an underlying shift going on within the Republican party -- namely, the need to change within itself to get back to the fundamentals that made the party more in line with mainstream conservative thought. It was astounding to see McCain apologize for the deviations of the past 8 years and vow to make things right again. It had to be done -- many conservatives are currently disappointed in what's going on lately and are wondering why the party has lost its focus; out of control spending on the federal level, lack of strong and no-nonsense leadership on foreign policy affairs (would Reagan hold hands with the Saudi prince?), the creation of more layers of government bureaucracy, not less -- did we really need a Department of Homeland Security? Isn't that like saying our decision to have a INS and a Customs Division was wrong and a waste of time and money from the beginning? Wouldn't it have been easier and more logical to reorganize the FBI and CIA, as well as the INS and Customs, without having to add yet another Cabinet department? But I digress...
Then again, the GOP knew they had to change tatics to recreate their image. The current state was not working and was dying in the polls. The only option was to attack as the true agent of change, to turn it back on the Dems. The response has been enthusiastic within the party mainstream. The Palin pick has been a major disruption to the process -- it's as if the controversy was designed to overshadow the current state of despair; as if to say "see? we are the team of change already with this pick. Bush/Cheney wouldn't have done this! This is a sign of how progressively intelligent we can be, and there's more where that came from!"
And the party is buying it. McCain, in his nomination acceptance speech, acknowledged the party mistakes of the past, and vowed to correct them, in essence distancing himself from the current administration. This move is also to counter the attacks from the Dems that McCain is more of the same, to get the message out to the undecideds that this team is different from the current team in office. McCain is being portrayed as a maverick who won't bow to the path of least resistance or unpopular agenda that has no net positive effect to the American people. Is it feasible? In terms of Washington politics, highly unlikely, but it would most certainly be welcome -- even the effort would be a refreshing change, provided it was proactive and not reactive like we've seen lately.
Palin is a risk and the party is getting chastised for not putting her out there to the wolves (i.e. press). It's similar to what you see when the accused refuses to take the witness stand. It's a strategy that will play itself out in the next few weeks via the debates and other events where someone is going to stumble. We haven't see the last of Sarah Palin in this election, but it would be nice to see where she stands vs. where she comes from.
2 comments:
Desperate tactics from a desperate team. The hypocrisy is open for all to see. She wasn't even a McCain supporter and now she looks like she is the lead ticket. McCain must be fuming that he is second pick again.
Yeah, but you gotta wonder now...we see that McCain picked Palin to win it, while Obama picked Biden to balance the ticket. I wonder: if Obama was given a "do-over", would he pick HRC to win it? I think he would. And imagine if he did pick HRC, what could the GOP do to counter? It wouldn't have been Palin. This tells you at least two things: One, that the GOP is in it to win it, regardless of the cost, and Two, the Dems don't have the right strategists on their team.
Post a Comment