3) Work the McCain “maverick” story line
Virtually everyone knows the tale of McCain’s heroism, and it’s worth retelling again. But the public also needs to be reminded of his maverick and independent political career, since that is far less well-known. The real goal here is to place McCain back in the H. Ross Perot tradition, a position he assumed with a Perot-like appeal to independents in 2000. Back then, and like Perot, McCain offered a kind of “engineering” take on governing — suggesting a more non-ideological and practical approach to politics. Not coincidentally, both he and Perot were graduates of the Naval Academy, where they developed their similar outlooks, including a distaste for politics as usual.
The problem for McCain is that the more he’s identified with the agenda of social conservatives, the less appeal he has to this key swing group. He needs to re-establish it at the convention.
4) Give a good acceptance speech
The advantage for McCain is that expectations are low — both because Obama is such a brilliant orator and because McCain has been mostly a bust in 2008 when it comes to giving formal speeches. But McCain can give a good speech (as he did at the 2004 convention). The key is to paint a compelling vision and agenda of an American future under McCain that will undercut the charges that he’s too old and too foreign-policy oriented to be president.
Note, again, that in none of these goals is there mention of attacking Obama. There will be plenty of chances to go after the Democratic nominee as the campaign progresses. But during the course of the next week, McCain and his minions should be almost unerringly positive, arguing that they have a “middle way” agenda to reinvigorate the economy and the nation’s spirit. The more unconventional, the better: the best political move McCain could make over the next week would be to indicate that the era of “politics as usual” is over.
To read the “Presidential Tote Board” blog, go to thePhoenix.com/blogs/toteboard. Steven Stark can be reached at sds@starkwriting.com.
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Topics:
Stark Ravings
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, Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, Elections and Voting, Politics, U.S. Politics, U.S. Presidential Election, George W. Bush, John McCain, U.S. Republican Party, Dick Cheney, Less
