David Brooks has a worthwhile op-ed on John McCain today. I’ve always liked Brooks because he’s one of the few conservatives that is willing to be critical of his own movement. In today’s article he presents a critical view of the Arizona Senator that is a lot more nuanced than many in the media and more than a few bloggers have about McCain.
He shares primarily what is bothering him about the campaign that McCain is running and it’s a familiar complaint:
…what disappoints me about the McCain campaign is it has no central argument. I had hoped that he would create a grand narrative explaining how the United States is fundamentally unprepared for the 21st century and how McCain’s worldview is different.
McCain has not made that sort of all-encompassing argument, so his proposals don’t add up to more than the sum of their parts. Without a groundbreaking argument about why he is different, he’s had to rely on tactical gimmicks to stay afloat. He has no frame to organize his response when financial and other crises pop up.
I think Brooks is right on here. McCain is a reactive politician, one responds to problems, but he has never been one to craft an overall vision. Brooks also talks about the fact that McCain’s odd philosophy, part Barry Goldwater, part Teddy Roosevelt, is so at odds with each other as to not provide a very good story.
McCain is not, as many have suggested, George W. Bush 2.0. He is a conservative, but is less partisan than the current occupant in the White House. But because he lacks a narrative, others are rushing in to fill one and painting McCain as a Bush clone. It’s unfair, but it happens especially when one fails to define oneself.
In my opinion, I think whoever is running McCain’s media shop needs to help the Senator craft a vision. I think everything is there for a compelling vision that is not another version Bush-style Republicanism. But it needs to be crafted, honed and told to the public.
Say what you will about Obama, but he does have a vision, even if the details are not that well-crafted.