Mark, I’d be a lot more optimistic if John McCain showed the ability and inclination to highlight the hard-left alliances of Barack Obama that make him so alien to most Americans. Surely, it was the anti-American screeds of Obama’s longtime pastor and spiritual mentor Jeremiah Wright that caused so many Democrats to wonder who Obama really is. Why isn’t McCain making full use of Jeremiah Wright, not to mention Bill Ayers and various other radical associates? When has McCain mentioned Obama’s stance on the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act? When has he highlighted Obama’s support for the California supreme court’s decision inventing a right to same-sex marriage? And so on.
McCain hasn’t (or has barely) even made the modest argument for divided government: Congress will be in liberal Democratic hands, and we need a president who will stop its excesses, not wallow in them.
I’m finding it difficult to keep my sunny side up when McCain can’t or won’t draw sharp distinctions between himself and Obama. Obama has plenty of vulnerabilities, but McCain has so far blown major opportunities to call attention to them.