“But before our old soldier fades away, it is worth acknowledging that McCain ran a valiant race against impossible odds. He will be — he should be — remembered as the most worthy presidential nominee ever to be denied the prize.” – Charles Krauthammer
Watching John McCain’s concession speech was a sad end to a sad campaign. Yes, he was running against history. Yes, he was running against George Bush. Yes, the media has been an absolute disgrace. But in the end, it was Sen. McCain who didn’t make the case for why he should be president. And while I agree with Charles Krauthammer, or even Don Imus who thought McCain would have made one of the truly great Presidents in this countries history, the case was never made to the American people.
The hardest part for me, as a fan of Senator McCain, was that I started to see some of the criticism’s people like Rush Limbaugh have been making for the past eight years. As the campaign went on, the “Maverick” seemed to be more a media creation than anything else. Once the media turned on him, as everyone said they were going to do, John McCain didn’t seem to have a coherent message aboot anything.
And even when he had a message, it wasn’t communicated all that well. Point of fact, the exit polls showed a vast majority of American’s believe in offshore drilling and reigning in out of control spending. They then voted for the candidate who is against offshore drilling and isn’t concerned aboot government spending.
So now that the election is over, what’s next? I see John McCain filling one of two roles:
1. As a “Lion of the Senate,” only more specifically, standing against runaway spending like he campaigned on, and naming names like he said he was going to. You know the Democrat Party is going to try and sneak “Card Check” or a payout to ACORN in the next stimulus package. It’s time for McCain to put his money where his mouth is and, and as they say in da’ hood, put them on blast.
2. Maybe I’ve been watching “The West Wing” too much, but what if Obama put his money where his mouth is, and in the name of bi-partisanship offered John McCain Secretary of State? Yeah, I know it’s a long shot, but I also feel it would be a fitting way for the Senator to end his career. Plus if nothing else, it keeps John Kerry away from the State Department.
Please don’t get me wrong. As disappointed as I am aboot the campaign, I still have nothing but the utmost affection for John McCain and respect for both the service and sacrifice he’s made for our country. Unlike how most in the liberal media want spin the election, I didn’t vote for John McCain out of “fear.” I voted for him because I honestly believed he was the best man for the job.
But the election is over. The other guy won. Now, I just want to see John McCain finish out his extraordinary career being just that…extraordinary.
If he just goes back to being the Republican the media can always rely on when they need a Republican to criticize other Republicans, that would just be sad.
John Brodigan blogs at his ironically titled blog www.johnbrodigan.com
4 users commented in " What’s Next for John McCain? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackSentimental claptrap!
McCain ran a pretty squalid campaign. If he had been the man of principle that some of his supporters wanted us to believe that he was would he have chosen Sarah Palin as his running mate? Would he have tacitly allowed the offensive and ignorant abuse of Obama by many of his supporters to continue? Would he have allowed the barely hidden suggestion that Obama is not a real American to gather pace under Palin’s support? Would he have compromised his supposed values in order to adopt nakedly populist positions on a range of issues? Would he have discourteously referred to his opponent as “That one” in a TV debate? He was less a maverick and more the scoundrel and that was his undoing. It just isn’t true to say that it was a “valiant race against impossible odds”. McCain could have won if from the start he had been convincing as a President in waiting. Obama did this despite his comparative inexperience.
It is very sad that John McCain decided to team up with the very folks that unfairly destroyed him in 2000. He chose to abandon his ‘Maverick’ ways and take a very lowbrow one… he let his campaign and his party each quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) fan the flames of hatred, bigotry, and racism in an effort to scare folks away from Obama. You could see the deep deep embarrassment he had in his concession speech when his followers were booing the president elect… you could see it cut right through McCain… perhaps the first glimpse of the real McCain we had all election season.
I have a feeling many will be surprised about how many republicans are asked to join in and help with the Obama team. I don’t think McCain will be one of them. He went a few steps too far in his rhetoric to be able to just let bygones be bygones. I think this is the same reason why Hillary was not asked to run on Obama’s ticket for VP. You chose to kick shit around you end up with shit covered shoes.
One question about the article… “aboot”? It happened twice. Are you Canadian?
Mark why feel sorry for McCain and make him out to be a victim of his campaign? He made a calculated choice and lost, simple as that.
[…] What’s Next for John McCain? Blogger News Network ,November 10, 2008 Charles Krauthammer Watching John McCain’s concession speech was a sad end to a sad campaign. Yes, he was running against history. … […]
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