http://www.slate.com/id/2200867/Stunt Man
John McCain's latest crazy, brilliant, desperate campaign tactic.
By John Dickerson
Posted Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008, at 9:23 PM ET
John McCain has launched his second Hail Mary pass in a month. On Wednesday he called for a suspension of the presidential campaign—no events, no ads, and no debate Friday—so that he and Barack Obama can head to Washington to forge a bipartisan solution. Even more than his selection of Sarah Palin as running mate, this gambit feels like a wild improvisation someone in the McCain team mapped out on his chest: OK, you run to the fire hydrant, cut left, and then when he gets to the Buick, John, you heave it.
It's not clear what, exactly, McCain is going to do in Washington. He doesn't sit on any of the relevant committees, and everyone is already deep in negotiations. Still, he's coming anyway. It doesn't make much logical sense. The only way to understand it is politically: In a presidential campaign, the surest sign that a candidate is playing politics on an issue is when he claims not to be playing politics on an issue. The only way for McCain to convince everyone that his intentions are 100 percent pure is for him to drop out of the race completely. A campaign doesn't end—and its distracting affects don't disappear—just because one candidate says so.
It's hard to believe that McCain's actions would pass his own laugh test. In fact, he's often snickered at his fellow senators who come in at the eleventh hour to lend a hand after McCain has done the hard work. But the McCain campaign is past caring about how journalists (or colleagues) view his moves. He hopes the rest of the country will see this as a leadership moment.
McCain needed to do something. He is slipping in the polls both nationally and in the battleground states. He's playing on Obama's turf in his effort to sell himself both as a change agent and as a steward of the economy. When voters are asked which candidate represents change, Obama beats McCain by more than 30 percentage points. When they're asked which candidate they trust to handle the economy, he beats McCain almost as handily. Plus, congressional Democrats were making mischief, arguing that unless McCain joined in supporting the package it would fail.
What was a candidate to do in that instance? Issue a press release? Come up with a better 10-point plan? (An 11-point plan?) Chanting "Drill, baby, drill" won't help. McCain's argument is that he represents something other than politics as usual, and this gambit certainly isn't usual. (Though I was reminded of Bob Dole's effort to shake up his 1996 campaign by stepping down from the Senate. There just aren't that many things a presidential candidate can do that suggest boldness.)
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Whether McCain's crazy gambit is seen as desperate or brilliant, it doesn't matter. Either way, it's probably not the last. The beneficial effects of the Palin Hail Mary lasted only a few weeks, and another adrenaline injection was needed. If this one doesn't work, that's OK—in due time they can try another razzle-dazzle play. And if it does work, that's great—in due time they can still try another razzle-dazzle play. It all makes the prospect of a McCain White House very exciting. So exciting, he might want to schedule periodic suspensions of his presidency to get anything done.
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