Team McCain is unveiling a new web video, entitled “Man in the Arena.”

There are some parts that I love. And then there are a few parts that seem a bit of off -key.

It begins with Churchill’s “We will fight them on the beaches” speech. Then they cut to a speech by McCain, urging, “keep that faith! Keep that courage! Stick together, stay strong. Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. We’re Americans. We’re Americans, and we’ll never surrender, they will.”

(Very quickly, there’s a picture of him laughing with Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge.)

There’s a brief snippet of video that feels a little out of place, with McCain smiling and raising his hands at the lectern, as if to say, ‘thank you, thank you,’ for applause. The tone of that image doesn’t fit what came immediately before…

Then there’s a lot of Teddy Roosevelt – interspersed with images of the stars and cosmos. That strikes me as an odd combination. But they fairly quickly follow with one of McCain’s best lines, the humble, “I owe America more than she will ever owe me.”

(Think about how much effort our friends on the other side of the aisle put into convincing Americans that this country isn’t as great as we think it is, that we are obliviously responsible for so many crimes and terrible acts, how frequently we have not lived up to our ideals. Hearing a man who would have every reason to be bitter or angry over what life dealt him regularly bubble over with an irrepressible appreciation of simply living in this country brings moisture to the eyelids.)

Then they put together the Churchill’s “never give in” with grainy black-and-white North Vietnamese propaganda video, where McCain is visibly gritting his teeth.

If this turns out to be the dominant theme of the McCain campaign in the general election, we will be seeing a very different pitch than we saw for Bush in 2004, or Clinton in 1992, or the elder Bush or Reagan, for that matter. That closeup of his gritting of teeth says, “nothing will break this man… There is nothing the presidency can throw at this man that will be more than he can stand.”

It has nothing to do with policy, and everything to do with character.

Well, one policy factor… if I were an enemy of the United States, and I was tempted to brinkmanship… McCain is not the type to blink.

UPDATE: So far, Campaign Spot readers love it.