The big political headline this week, of course, involves John McCain's endless and humiliating attempts to placate Mitt Romney by bowing to demands he hire his operatives and pay his campaign debt. So far all he's got is a grudging one-sentence endorsement from that rampaging rage-aholic Ann Romney.Because, you know, Hillary Clinton only lost to Barack Obama by a few delegates and effectively tied him in votes received*; why would Obama want to reach out to her and her supporters? Also, boy, Clinton sure has been bitter and domineering, what with her extremely positive concession speech and her working hard for Obama and her telling delegates they should vote for Obama at the convention. Maybe tomorrow, she'll complement Obama's tie and say he'll be the best president ever. What a bitch.
Oh wait, got confused, that's Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The way it used to be is you ran and lost and either disappeared or pitched in. Mrs. Clinton continues making Mr. Obama look the dauphin to her embittered and domineering queen.
But Peggy Noonan's column isn't all misogynistic swipes at Clinton. No, she's got more important things to deal with, like why John McCain's stand-up act isn't more the focus of his campaign:
This would be a good time for him to get interesting again. And he'll find it easy because he is interesting. That's why the boys on the bus loved him in 2000. That's why the Republican base rejected him in 2000. He was hot and George W. Bush was—well, let's call it mellow. Mr. McCain attacked Christian conservative leaders while Mr. Bush played them. Republicans were trying to recover from eight years of interesting. They didn't want more.Well, actually, Republicans were wowed by the awesome patricianness of Dubya. He had a name just like his dad's! Surely, he had to be competent. Plus, McCain actually disagreed with George W. Bush sometimes back in 2000, unlike today.
But if McCain can just tell jokes and let his freak flag fly, he'll be a winner again. I mean, just look at this little bon mot:
"[He] volunteered that Brooke Buchanan, his spokeswoman who was seated nearby and rolling her eyes, 'has a lot of her money hidden in the Cayman Islands' and that she earned it by 'dealing drugs.' Previously, Mr. McCain had identified Ms. Buchanan as 'Pat Buchanan's illegitimate daughter,' 'bipolar,' 'a drunk,' 'someone with a lot of boyfriends,' and 'just out of Betty Ford.'"Ha! She's a drunken, drug-abusing slut! Ho-ho, Johnny, good one!
Noonan does think, though, that America will turn on Obama:
The race has a subtext, a historic encounter between the Old America and the New, and suddenly the Old America—those who are literally old, who married a guy who fought at the Chosin Reservoir, and those not so old who yet remember, and cherish, the special glories of the Old—will rise, and join in, and make themselves heard. They will not leave without a fight.
And on that day John McCain will suddenly make it a race, as if moved by them and wanting to come through for them one last time. And then on down to the wire.
Why will old people fight Obama? I dunno. Maybe because he's black, or because Hillary Clinton is mean. Noonan isn't very clear, but when is she ever?
(Via Roy)
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*Depending on your metric, Clinton and Obama were within 100,000 votes or so, with either able to claim a marginal victory depending on how you want to view it. I make no judgment on who won that vote, since a) both campaigns have good arguments, and b) it's not really important anyhow.
