McCain's Move

With less than one month to go,  John McCain has few winning moves, and Barack Obama is headed to "Check Mate" on the chess board of Election 2008.  

What is McCain to do? 

Two McCain advantages remain.  And they are true advantages, not bloated attacks on Obama or overused GOP talking points.

1. Senate Record
One reason the voting public distrusts  and dislikes politicians is that politicians fail to follow through on election promises.  For fence-sitting voters, especially those bombarded by campaign ads and phone calls, it's hard to believe either candidate will do what they say. 

With two Senators at the top of each party's ticket, the candidate's disadvantage is the public's advantage -- a record by which to evaluate each candidate, to predict how they will perform in office.  

Obama claims he will give 95% of taxpayers a tax cut.  He claims that he will reach across the aisle and find compromise solutions to our nation's challenges.  He claims he will move us closer to energy independence.  He claims he cares about Main Street and will hold Wall Street accountable.  But what has he done while in the Senate to achieve these goals? One look at Obama's past votes and legislative behavior, and it's clear his campaign promises are inconsistent with his record reality.  

And what about the "Present" votes while in the Illinois State Senate.  What kind of commitment did that show?

McCain's must be accountable to a much longer record, but it's one that is consistent with the domestic and foreign policy agendas outlined on the campaign trail. When it comes to reaching across the aisle, as Mike Murphy said on Meet the Press today, "You look at any piece of bipartisan legislation in the Senate that got done the last five years, John McCain's been the quarterback ... McCain is a guy who can get things done in Washington with two parties." 

2. Runaway Liberal Agenda
Also on MTP today, Murphy referred to the "runaway Democratic train" that comes with an Obama presidency.  

How many moderates and independents would prefer a Congress to have limits, the checks and balances so cleverly built into our political system?  With Congress' abysmal approval rating, scary is the thought of a liberal Democratic president putting forth an agenda that Congress will ratify quickly and easily. 

With a liberal and a moderate as our choices, even left-leaners may consider a moderate out of fear of the reckless decisions made possible by a Congress who says "Yes, We Can" to every proposal the liberal president desires. 

(McCain should take care in presenting this as a problem with an Obama presidency.  Voters don't like hand-wringing and demagoguing either.  Nonetheless, McCain can stand on his record as someone who forces compromise, which is better than forcing unchecked bad policy.)

McCain must try these two moves now ... or never.