George W Bush’s presidency officially ended yesterday as he called a meeting to facilitate the rise of John McCain as substantive GOP leader and de facto president. He abdicated his (and Cheney’s) throne.
The credibility of the "boy who cried wolf" president (kudos to the Daily Show) is so far beyond repair among major factions of his own party to the point that he can no longer have the appearance of rallying the troops. McCain and down ticket Republicans needed a public divorce and they got it today complete with made-for-TV Shakespearian theatrics.
The political impact of what has happened is far more important to the perpetrators of this so-called revolt than the already sliding Dow. Republicans can now openly run against the Bush administration, having revoked his conservative credentials in the interest of "Main Street". House Republicans can now sniff the political wind, rebrand themselves as conservative mavericks to fight the good (or dirty) fight in their districts. If they believe it is better to deal, they will vote for it but if their constituents won’t like it, they’ll triumphantly vote against it.
McCain again asserts his "I’m my own man" meme to thwart the effective Bush hugging attack. This act stresses how he put country before politics, changes the subject away from the Keating 5 reminder, delays a debate for which he was unprepared or provides himself with an excuse for poor performance while deriding Obama for taking days off to prepare while Wall Street burned. He’ll say Obama did not show the kind of run to the fire first leadership this country needs. The GOP base will eat it up. And yes, he is still concerned about his base.
For John McCain, I think the October 2 VP debate is the real date to avoid, not tonight. Palin’s falling numbers continue as she gets more unscripted TV time. She cannot competently spew talking points for more than 15 minutes so a debate next week would condense her support to only the hard core supporters. Middle of the road voter will eventually have to plug their ears to withstand the inane approach this opportunistic, ambitious, but non-serious student of the game will take. There isn’t enough personal identification and sympathy in the world to cover it.
So, once again McCain will rise from the political ashes—Phoenix is more than a location of one of his several homes.