OT ~ Excellent advice for McCain
- From: "Carl A." <chainfl@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 11:49:31 -0400
POTOMAC WATCH
By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL
McCain Should Run Against Congress
May 30, 2008
When House Minority Leader John Boehner is asked whether his party needs to
distance itself from George W. Bush, he likes to point out the president
isn't on the ticket this fall. True. Several hundred incumbent GOP members
of Congress are, however, and don't think John McCain hasn't noticed.
With Congress's approval rating at record lows, the time is ripe for a slam
campaign. Barack Obama won't do it, since his Democratic colleagues are
running the joint. But it's a huge opportunity for Mr. McCain, who could
play Congress's failings off his promises for reform. Even as Republicans
sagely warn their nominee to distance himself from the president, they're
beginning to see that his more productive option might just be to throw
them - and Congressional Democrats - under the Straight Talk bus.
Mr. McCain could take encouragement from history. Harry Truman managed a
1948 victory by trashing the "Do Nothing Congress." Upstart Barry Goldwater
in 1952 told Arizonans that Majority Leader Ernest McFarland represented the
mess in Washington, and snatched the Democrat's seat. Tom Daschle followed
McFarland, after being pilloried for turning the Senate into a dead zone.
Today's Congress is ripe for a shredding. The GOP kicked off an era of
public disgust with its corruption and loss of principle, a reputation it
has yet to shake. Democrats have, impressively, managed to alienate voters
further with inaction and broken promises. Congress has come to represent
the institutional malaise that so frustrates voters. That distaste explains
this year's appetite for "change."
Mr. McCain could play off that hunger, and in the process provide his
campaign with the theme it still sorely needs. Mr. Obama has his "change"
slogan, but as of yet no innovative policies to hang on it. Mr. McCain's
problem is opposite: He's laid out smart ideas - an optional flat tax,
health-care tax credits, a veto of all earmarks - but has yet to find a
narrative to bring them together. One solution: Latch on to a subject that
today occupies only a part of his speeches - the promise of "political
reform" - and turn it into a full-fledged philosophy. Theme: "Your
government has failed you, and here's how I plan to fix it."
Congress is the embodiment of that failure, and Mr. McCain could use it to
draw distinctions. He could swivel the focus away from the Bush comparison,
and toward Mr. Obama's kinship with today's all-talk Democratic Congress. He
could tell voters that the party they feel is today failing them in the
Capitol will also fail them in the White House.
As for bad-mouthing the GOP as part of this process, it isn't likely Mr.
McCain would offend his conservative base. Most of it is already offended by
Congress. His criticism of today's diminished GOP brand, and a promise to
revive it, might even help him with the rank-and-file, and would certainly
draw independents.
Mr. McCain has so far only flirted with this idea. He wrote an op-ed
criticizing the farm bill, but it was largely an abstract complaint about
policy. He might have instead made its focus the skewering of a Congress
that relentlessly shovels subsidies to agribusiness, and then directly tied
that naked vote-buying to today's high prices. A proponent of entitlement
reform, he could flay Congress for its decades of inaction on Social
Security. His earmark criticism might name names, including those in his
party, whose pork addiction has sullied politics. If he's looking for
suggestions, he could start with the Alaska delegation.
Mild as Mr. McCain's criticism has been, it's already got Republicans
spooked. Many in the party resisted falling in behind his reform message,
and some worry that's already taking a toll - creating difficulties even in
races that should have been easy.
Consider: As part of his condemnation of the farm bill, Mr. McCain singled
out a $93 million earmark for racehorses. While Mr. McCain avoided naming
the author, it happened to be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Mr.
McConnell has bragged in ads about the pork he brings home to Kentucky, even
as his election opponents (taking their cue from Mr. McCain) use those
earmarks to paint him as part of a Washington crony culture.
Republicans haven't been worried about Mr. McConnell's seat, and a recent
Rasmussen poll has Mr. McCain with a whopping 25 percentage-point lead over
Mr. Obama in the state. Yet that same poll had Mr. McConnell's opponent with
a five percentage-point lead. And only 67% of declared McCain voters said
they'd vote for their four-term Republican senator.
If Congressional Republicans were smart, they'd be figuring out now how to
get some protection from a potential McCain onslaught. A unilateral earmark
ban? A new resolve against the farm bill? They'd better think of something.
If Mr. McCain does take aim at the big, fat Congressional target in front of
him, right now it's the GOP, as much as Democrats, that he'll hit
.
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