Things McCain can still do to win
Last week, Karl Rove said that, if the election were held today, Obama would have 273 electoral votes, three more than he needs to win the Presidency. This week, there are still 10 states that voted for George W. Bush in 2004, where Obama has the lead or is trailing within the margin of error. McCain must carry all those states, plus one that went for John Kerry in 2004. Here are some ways he can still turn things around:
1. An unforeseeable October surprise that makes people feel McCain’s national security experience is more important than the ecomomic meltdown.
2. Another “Hail Mary,” where he goes on TV with his future Secretary of the Treasury, and says this is going to be my guy and here’s what we’re going to do. Problem: you only get so many Hail Mary’s, and he probably used his last one when he nominated Sarah Palin. Since he said the fundamentals of the economy are strong, he has become increasingly ignored, irrelevant, and erratic on this issue. And he can never stop belonging to the party of George W. Bush and Herbert Hoover.
3. He can intensify the underground campaign that he personally has always distanced himself from: that Obama is a closet Arab who sympathizes with terrorists, or that he’s just too different from the rest of us in so many ways that we should not risk electing him. Lately, when McCain says at rallies that Obama is a fine Christian family man, that he just disagrees with strongly on issues, his supporters have been booing him.
4. He could look for ways to build the number of people who vote for the white guy just because he's white. It would have to come from his supporters, not McCain himself, whose honor matters to him, who will lose self-respect if he stoops to "doing anything" to win.
5. He can promise more tax cuts for everyone, but when the middle class is hurting, like now, they tend to identify with people who are losing their jobs and pensions, because they might be next. It’s only when the middle class is doing well that they believe in government benefits for rich people, because they hope to become one someday.
6. He must decide who he is: the experienced one, the change agent, or the experienced one that he’s trying to become again.
What I’m worried about most right now, for the future of the country, is how much so many people hate Barack Obama. It’s at least as bad, or worse, than the way the right wing hated the Clintons. Lord, deliver us from patriots like that, before they poison our country and our government's ability to govern, just when we need unity and mutual respect the most. For a start, stop booing John McCain, a real patriot, when he says the same thing at his rallies.
