Raising McCain

A chill went through my being as John Rich’s new song, “Raising McCain,” serenaded the Xcel Energy Center, while John and Cindy McCain stood waiving to a cheering crowd while being covered in waves of confetti and balloons. 

Just one week to the night after seeing something unbelievable in Denver, I saw lightning strike a second time.  It was a different kind of lightning, but it was still the lightning of political excellence.

I will write at least one more blog entry over the next few days trying to compare and contrast the two conventions and candidates.  There have been few times in my memory when we have been presented with Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates of such contrast on so many levels 

The Republicans didn’t come close to matching the Democrats in terms of putting together a Presidential acceptance celebration.  Last Thursday at Invesco Field was a phenomenal achievement, but last night had its own excellence.  While this was a much smaller crowd and it was not a crowd that forgot itself, it was still a crowd that was genuinely moved to support John McCain.  John McCain received twice as many standing ovations than Obama received at Invesco Field.  Some of this is simply due to the fact that Obama spoke in flowing verse that lent itself to fewer applause lines, whereas McCain spoke in sentences with virtually every one an applause line.

Yet still, the ovations were genuine.  John McCain elevated his game on the biggest stage of his life.  Until tonight I had never seen John McCain give a good speech.  I had seen him perform at the highest level in town hall meetings throughout New Hampshire.  What Obama is to oratorical excellence, McCain is to Town Hall meetings.  He takes any and every question, and answers them clearly and directly.  He can do it so well that I’ve seen people leave the meetings deciding to vote for him even though they don’t agree with anything he said.  He has the ability to genuinely listen to people, show them respect, and people genuinely respond.

He can do this so effectively for many reasons, one of which is that his words have an authenticity that few possess.   It is an authenticity that is earned in 5 ½ years as a POW.  He draws on that authenticity when responding to any and every questions and he displayed that in his acceptance speech.  He spoken with such clarity, that it almost substituted for eloquence.  Like him or not, its hard to doubt his authenticity and sincere commitment.

The most riveting moment of the speech came when he proclaimed that the Republican Party had lost the faith of the American people in the way it had conducted itself for the last 8 years.  Immediately, an uncomfortable silence fell upon the auditorium.   He was criticizing the very people who had paid a lot of money to be delegates to the convention, and everyone knew it.

It was at that moment he announced that he was running for President of the United States and not the President of the Republican Party. 

This was an authentic moment and a risky move.   Authentic, because everyone knew it was true.   John McCain is not a party establishment guy, and hasn’t been for 2 decades.  Risky, because in point of fact he is not well loved within the party.  Given that Obama will be able to outspend him dramatically in the next 8 weeks (which is all that is left before the election), he will need all the good will and volunteers possible.

Yet after the audience pondered, they embraced him as their President.  It was at this moment that the Xcel Energy Center became electric.  He sealed the deal with the delegates tonight and based on the overnight polling, he connected with the American people as well.  In overnight polling CBS has him closing an 8 point gap so that he is dead even with Obama at 42%.  

As I come away from the convention, there is very striking contrasts between the candidates.   In Denver Barack Obama began the final phase of his campaign by running for President as a Democrat.  In St. Paul, John McCain announced to the Republican Convention that he is running for President as an American.

The race is now on.  Obama has behind him the largest political organization ever assembled.  He will be able to run a campaign in all 50 states and match McCain ad for ad.  McCain can’t compete in that fashion. But he wouldn’t do it if he could.

John McCain uses a playbook all his own: Raising McCain.

The next two months ought to be fascinating.   Since many of us don’t know enough about the candidates to properly evaluate them, it means that we will each have to think for ourselves over the next 2 months.  That is good for Democracy.  Alexis de Tocqueville would approve of that message.