If I were John McCain, this is what I'd do. Maybe he's already done it.
I would call President Bush, meet with him at the White House, and tell him: "Nothing personal, George, but I've got to start bashing you."
It wouldn't be the first time. McCain bashed Bush with great glee when he ran against him in the Republican primary in 2000. Besides, it's all politics.
The Democrats, at their convention, gave McCain a great opportunity. Over and over, their rostrum speakers thundered: "We don't need four more years of George W. Bush."
Fine, McCain should say. I wasn't crazy about the guy, either.
If he peppered his acceptance speech on Thursday with his disagreements with Bush, a lot of the air would go out of the Democratic argument. It's not, after all, that America has become less conservative over the past eight years. It's not Bush's philosophy they don't like -- it's him.
Fairly or unfairly, the incumbent is getting all the blame for all the problems we're facing now -- economic and international alike. In an era of expanding oil prices, it doesn't help that he and Vice President Cheney are (what a coincidence) oil men. That's why the President's popularity rating is as low as any American leader in recent memory.
I always thought the Democrats exhibited a curious death wish in 1984 when they nominated Walter Mondale as their candidate. Ronald Reagan hammered Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election, so the Dems decided to choose Carter's vice president to run against the same opponent. What were they thinking?
Similarly, it would seem to make sense for McCain to get as far away from Bush as he can.
Sure, it would be a tightrope act. You hate to disrespect a sitting president -- or, by extension, all those people who voted for him. But if McCain continues to cling to Bush's coattails, it's going to be Walter Mondale all over again.
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