Nov
06
2008

McCain didn’t want to win, and I think I understand why

I’ve seen a number of elaborate write ups of McCain’s various failures. Indeed, I was planning on writing one myself. When I sat down to type it up I realized that I was getting caught up in minutia. The truth is that McCain’s loss can be boiled down to two bullet points.

  • Failure to connect to his base
  • John McCain didn’t really want to win

I think the disconnect between McCain and the Republican leadership and the Conservative movement is obvious to any observer, well documented and well analyzed so I wont elaborate on it here. The second point has largely escaped notice. The only reason I’ve been thinking about it recently is because I happened to catch an interview with a McCain staffer shortly after the result was known but before the concession speech.

Unfortunately, I can not find video of this interview but I thought what she said was remarkable. I’ll have to paraphrase, it was something like “There was always this unspoken feeling that this just wasn’t our time. It would have been too difficult for any Republican to win.” Taking a look at his concession speech, perhaps one of the most sincere ever given by a candidate for President of the United States, I believe that this is true.

This election certainly presented challenges but they were not insurmountable ones. Obama did not win in a tremendous landslide and by all accounts John McCain ran a pretty lame campaign. In retrospect it’s very easy to see times when McCain just didn’t have the spark. At the time many people attributed it to his age, his “moderate” public persona and his unwillingness to get bogged down in partisanship. Now we know the truth. He was just going through the motions.

I have mixed emotions about John McCain. In many ways he would have made a fine president, in others he would have been a danger to the Conservative movement. Would he have made a better Commander in Chief than Barack Obama? Absolutely. Do I regret voting for him? Under the circumstances, no I don’t.

That said, if McCain felt like there was no way he could win he should have stepped down. When do you think that mindset settled in for him? I have no way of seeing into McCain’s heart, but I imagine that when Barack Obama officially won the Democratic nomination John McCain felt like the race was already over. It must be difficult to stand against the tide of a historic event and I think being the alternative to the first African American president was not something John McCain wanted to be.

There are several black people I would have loved to see in the highest office in this country. Condaleeza Rice is the first name that pops into my head. Have you ever read about her upbringing? In a very heartbreaking moment for me personally, former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swan recently lost to our truly awful incumbent Governor Ed Rendell. The governorship of a state like Pennsylvania would have been an excellent spring board to the Presidency. My fantasy never-gunna-happen pick is Walter E. Williams.

Black by popular demand

Black by popular demand

My own children, like Barack Obama, will be biracial. Biracial people face unique challenges because it is difficult for them to be accepted by both races. I hope that Barack’s success will help to make things easier on biracial people.

While I’m happy to see the race barrier crossed in Presidential Politics, I can not help but be pessimistic about his potential to be a good president. My next article will focus on my reasons for this. In the meantime, I hope I’m wrong. I hope he surprises me.

In a few short months, we’ll find out.

Written by Jacob J Ordinaut in: Election '08, News and Commentary |

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