David

Karki

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February 11, 2008

John McCain's CPAC Speech Falls Flat; Will His Campaign?

"We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates wouldn't make any sense at all." – Ronald Reagan, 1965

“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers.” – Ronald Reagan, CPAC address, 1975

With that, I give you 2008 Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain. He went before the same Conservative Political Action Committee and gave a speech, ostensibly to try to mend fences with the conservatives whom he has both antagonized and needs to win this November's election.

On the surface, the speech was good. It's even better when you forget the man who is giving it and his record, which belies all those words. Maybe that's why the text of it reads so much better to me than watching it on TV – there is less of an immediate reminder of all the times McCain reveled in sticking the knife in our back to the adulation of the liberal drive-by media. (His real base of support.)  And thus less immediate skepticism of his truthfulness, integrity and humility.

McCain had the right idea with this speech, but the tone was all wrong. He comes off sounding as if he is the wronged party, as if conservatives were out of line for objecting to his liberal apostasies and even more so for now doubting him during primary season when he sounds more like one of them. Uh, Senator, just what the heck else did you expect? This is the inevitable consequence of the liberal behavior you chose then, and the conservative-sounding words you choose now. You made your bed, now lie in it.

And frankly, this really isn't about you, Senator. There is entirely too much first-person throughout this speech. Both conservatism as an ideology and America as a nation are causes far bigger than any one individual. If you understood this, you might just be able to approach this election and this particular speech with a genuine humility that would go a long way toward helping you achieve success in both.

But alas, you hold the title of Senator, which is merely a polite term for “egotistical, pompous blowhard.” After all, with your years in that exclusive good ol' boys n' girls club of a mere 100 members, it's not surprising that you find it difficult if not impossible to do the one thing that would yield the best chance of turning the tide in your favor – admit error.

Look at the speech. McCain admits differences with conservatives, purportedly commits to now doing the opposite of his record in a few areas – making the Bush tax cuts permanent, securing the border first – but nevertheless stubbornly sticks to his guns up and down the line. Not once does he express anything resembling regret. Clearly, he doesn't really think he was wrong to have done any of it, which means, logically, that conservatives were wrong to have opposed him. Yes, he now has to issue something of a mea culpa, but only because political expediency requires it.

And that's why his words just don't do much to convince anyone who's already skeptical. They are not founded in any real admission of or accountability for error. Not unlike a philandering husband asking his wife to forgive him one last time, there just isn't any substance underlying the request. And in his mind, he blames his wife for having driven him to it and resents her for trying to hold him to account. To use a little Dr. Phil lingo, he's not “owning it.”

I'm not asking McCain to repudiate his whole record, nor to grovel. That would be phony and absurd in its own right. But if he's going to fight to make the Bush tax cuts permanent anyway, then why not just take the next small step and say, “The tax cuts worked, and I was wrong to have opposed them”? To err is only human, after all. And just one act of true repentance, if you will, would do wonders.

The answer is threefold: He can't risk losing the liberals and independents on which he relies. His large senatorial ego doesn't allow for it. And in his heart he doesn't really believe it.

That last one is the most important, and while I can acknowledge the honesty in his stubbornness, McCain needs to acknowledge that it is precisely the difference in heartfelt belief between himself and the conservative base that is the issue. No amount of flowery language in a speech is ever going to cover that up completely. It will inevitably show through, as the sheer number of uses of the word “I” illustrates here.

And that's why this speech did, and possibly McCain's entire campaign will, fall flat. The only way the former could have worked and the latter can work is if it's approached with a humility that he just doesn't seem to have within him, or even be capable of faking for long enough.

Otherwise, McCain will just have to rely on the FOH – Fear Of Hillary – to make up for this, and hope it's enough.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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