McCain claims that since times are tough, and the future is unknown, "We need a steady hand at the tiller".
Being a racing sailor myself, I respectfully disagree. When seas are rough, you need a helmsman with strong vision and firm grip.
Sailing rough seas doesn't require the helmsman to just maintain course. With every swell, the helmsman must adjust course to meet waves at the optimum angle. Meeting them 'head on' results in a violent shock and water breaking over the bow killing your speed. Hit at too shallow of an angle, and the boat will violently roll from side to side, putting your crew at risk of being thrown overboard. In order to sail through big waves, you must constantly turn the boat and trim the sails. With each wind gust, the boat will heel, putting a tremendous amount of force on the tiller. You need a strong grip, and you need to be able to react quickly and rely on your crew to make adjustments. A steady hand will get you nowhere when the boat is at a 30 degree heel rounding up to the wind. You need strength to keep the boat on course, and strong reliance on your crew knowing what adjustments need to be made.
A good helmsman also had excellent vision. The wave pattern will tell you a lot about changing conditions, and you must be on the constant lookout and be ready to avoid erratic waves and other hazard. Conditions change quickly in sailing. Holding fast on a course, when the conditions have changed, will only result in the fleet passing you. You need to be flexible, and willing to move quickly.
John McCain want to stay on the same course, and hold steady even though the winds have changed and the waves are building. Barack Obama sees the changing conditions, and knows that we need to make adjustments or our boat will be in serious danger.
You also can't let your boat 'regulate itself', you must keep strong oversight of what's going on to make sure lines and equipment are stowed correctly, and ensure that the crew can react quickly. A tangled line on the deck can cause severe injury to your crew if something goes wrong. Something will always go wrong, it's just a matter of how well prepared you and your crew are to deal with it.
Folks, after 8 years, our boat is a mess. We've neglected maintenance, the lines are all fouled, and our crew is busy drinking beer, not sailing the boat. The rest of the fleet is gaining on us, and soon we will lose our position in the front of the pack. If the winds were light, and the sea's were calm, and this wasn't a race, all we would need is a steady hand at the tiller to keep us on course to our destination, as the crew parties below.
But as the last few weeks have shown us, the wind is gusty, swells are getting bigger, and our boat and our crew are in danger. We need a skipper who knows how to handle the boat in these tough times, who has the strength to keep the boat moving forward, who has the vision to see hazards and changing conditions before we run into them, and who is willing to rethink our strategy to ensure the fleet stays behind us.
Which boat would you rather be on? The one that has nearly capsized because the helmsman didn't see the gust coming? Or the one the cuts smoothly through the waves because the helmsmen anticipated the gust and made necessary adjustments before it hit?