Jon Rauch would like to see John McCain chart a third way between Bush and Obama:
This does not mean explicitly attacking Bush, something no Republican can do. It does mean exchanging the Republicans’ trademark bipolar politics for triangulation. McCain would seek to differentiate himself from both Obama on the one hand and Bush on the other. This could involve explaining, for instance, why it is wrong to negotiate with adversaries unconditionally but also wrong to dismiss negotiation as appeasement; why tax increases aren’t the answer to the country’s economic problems but tax cuts aren’t enough; why neither unconditional withdrawal nor unconditional engagement is the answer in Iraq; why it is foolish to talk as if the war on terrorism were either a military or a civilian problem when in fact it is both; why any successful health reform must deal with both coverage and cost.
It so happens that these and other triangulated messages are not only better politics but better policy. There are a lot of right answers to be found in the space between Bush and Obama. It also happens that McCain, by temperament and background, is well suited to proffer them. The next few months will determine whether he can break away from the Jovian gravity of Bush-era Republicanism; or whether, in what history will mark as a Doleful ending to a great career, McCain’s independence will fail him when he needs it most.
I’d like to see something like this too (though – unfairly, I think – “triangulation” has become something of a dirty word, with connotations of opportunism and slipperiness). But: McCain made his reputation as a maverick by hammering away at a relatively small number of issues he was passionate about, such as campaign finance reform and lately the surge. What do these have in common? Not much, aside from their strong moralistic undertones (political corruption; dishonor in retreat). But on most other issues, even torture, he’s tacked all over the place, reaching awkward or untenable compromises. McCain doesn’t appear to think about governance or politics in the systematic way that would make this kind of intelligent positioning possible.
