So John McCain has made his convention speech. Some Republicans and conservatives were excited by it; some were a little less so.
I thought it was very much a typical McCain workmanlike effort. He's not a great speechmaker.
But what he's trying to do is very interesting. He's trying to run as a conservative--hence his references to lower taxes, a strong defense, and note especially his longer-than-expected riff on school choice. (good for him for backing that, by the way).
He's also trying to run of course as a Republican; though he wants to do that quietly--hence his emphasis on reaching across party lines, on how he's battled with members of both parties, etc.
He wants to run as the candidate of "change", too--as an anti-Washington candidate, going in there to shake things up (not the easiest thing to do, given that he's been in Washington for over 20 years). But it's how Reagan ran, it's how many successful presidents have gotten themselves elected to the office. And given how this does seem to be a "change" election (polls show most Americans think the country is on the wrong track), and given McCain's love of being a maverick, one shouldn't be surprised he went this direction.
But mainly, I got the impression that John McCain wanted to portray himself as an independent--one with experience, and judgment, but an independent nonetheless--someone who's beholden to no one, who can thus do the right thing, etc etc etc. I think he believes Sarah Palin fits within that framework, too. McCain apparently got 40 million people to watch him last night; Sarah Palin has helped him energize the party's base; the close of his speech was a pretty rousing send-off ("Fight with me! Fight for America!"), certainly rousing for McCain; I think I see some evidence that McCain's beginning to get a convention bounce in the polls; and so it appears John McCain has a better chance to win than many of us thought he had some months ago. I suspect this race will be about even in the polls come next week.
And then, we'll see.
