Really, is there any other way to look at what he did yesterday? The context has been swiftly and mercilessly put forward - John McCain is halting campaign activities to go to the Senate, where he has not shown up for work in over a year, to pitch in on solving a crisis that he was blithely unconcerned about only a week ago.
That this has been greeted as a headscratcher by nearly everyone is understandable. Everyone wants to know what angle he's playing. Is this his response to his falling poll numbers, a desperate attempt to shake things up again like he did with his choice of Sarah Palin? Is he falling on his sword for his running mate, trying to postpone his own debate so as to give himself a pretense for canceling the debate between Biden and Palin?
Nobody thinks that this is a smart move politically. When David Letterman tears into you, it shows that the story has escaped the confines of political culture into pop culture. Political junkies and low-information voters alike are probably talking about this around the water cooler today. That's not a good development for John McCain.
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One thread I keep detecting in hearing people talk about this is that no nominee of a major party has ever done anything like this after their convention in the modern political era; that this is without precedent.
Well, there actually is a kind of precedent, but it's not an obvious one. In a nutshell, I think that it's possible that John McCain has simply decided that he's not up to the challenge of being President or perhaps he's lost the fire and no longer wants the job, and this is his way of throwing in the towel with some semblance of honor. Cloak your withdrawal from the race in concern over a crisis, suspend your campaign, and ride the resulting tide to an easy retirement back to the Senate, your comfort zone.
In June, 1992, Gallup showed that H. Ross Perot had an improbable lead in polling over Bill Clinton and George Bush. On July 16, Perot withdrew from the race amid bizarre claims that Republican operatives were planning to disrupt his daughter's wedding. Overnight, Perot's public perception went from that of a straight-talking maverick to that of an unstable also-ran who couldn't weather the heat of a nationwide campaign for President.
John McCain has not withdrawn completely from this race, and his explanation for suspending his campaign is certainly more plausible than was Perot's. But I think we need to consider the possibility that what we are witnessing here is the sudden decision by a major party nominee for President that he no longer wants the job. What other explanation can there possibly be for McCain to suddenly want to come off the campaign trail and return to the Senate, his workplace for the past two decades?
John McCain is 72 years old. He has had several bouts with cancer. He is waging an increasingly futile campaign against one of the most gifted political figures of the past half-century. His party's approval rating and that of the fellow Republican he hopes to replace are in the toilet. If elected, he would be forced to work with a Congress which is overwhelmingly Democratic and increasingly hostile to the notion of playing nice with a Republican President for another four years.
Considering those factors, is it really a stretch to think that John McCain may have simply changed his mind about wanting the job?
The simplest explanation is usually the correct explanation. To me, this sounds like a much simpler explanation than that he had a sudden burning desire to get back to the Senate and pitch in to help, or that he is chickening out on the debates.