Instead, the McCain campaign decided that they didn't want to take the kind of risks that real ideological experimentation would entail - that despite the difficulties, short and long-term, facing the GOP as a whole, there's was too much potential downside in trying to imitate Bill Clinton in 1992 and George W. Bush in 2000 (both of whom ran genuinely creative campaigns at a time when their parties desperately needed them). I had hoped that the Sarah Palin pick was a sign that they were open to rolling the dice a bit more on policy; at the moment, though, it looks like Palin herself was the roll of the dice, and it's just going to be down-and-dirty politics from here on out. There's no question that anti-Obama hardball makes sense as a strategy given the limitations of McCain's message; it's just that a lot of those limitations are self-imposed.
What to do?
1 year ago
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