McCain's Long Strange Trip

*Please excuse me while I attempt to be serious*

What a long strange trip it's been for Senator John McCain. Unlike Senator Obama, McCain was a fixture on the political landscape before the Bush era. Most voters first became familiar with the multi-term senator after his backing of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act or BCRA, in 2002 with Senator Feingold. He was known to many as a rogue republican, who didn't hesitate to criticize others, including members of his own party.

Despite a difficult primary in 2000 McCain was ready to run again in 2008.
His wife Cindy McCain told Newsweek in June of this year that a political campaign was difficult for their family. Her reluctancy was attributed to the 2000 primary season when Bush advisor Karl Rove spread rumors about the couple’s adopted daughter. This time she told Newsweek, she was ready to devote herself to a cause bigger than herself- a familiar path for the McCain family.

After preliminary fundraising activities in late 2006 and early 2007 McCain’s candidacy seemed far from assured. On June 25, 2007 the Washington Post reported him polling at just seven percent, far behind fellow nominees Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. His campaign was pronounced dead by the International Herald Tribune, and by September he was third in a nationwide USA TODAY/Gallup Poll.

A bitter Democratic Primary shifted focus from the Republican race as McCain continued to campaign throughout early 2008 and surprised politicos with wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina. By Jan 29, 2008 he had won the Florida primary.

The presumptive nominee by March, McCain toured Europe and visited Iraq as Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama fought over who would oppose him come November.

McCain had developed his message. By sticking with talking points about his support of the troop surge in Iraq, and cutting government spending he reminded America of his presidential nature. His gains in the polls showed him connecting with voters. Through self-styled town hall meetings, the McCain campaign established a narrative – here was a man who put “country first.”

During the Republican primary McCain attempted to establish a directive in his own campaign. Amidst the confetti and endorsements from Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, films highlighted his contribution to the country.

McCain doesn’t let his history as a prisoner of war and war hero overwhelm him. In his book, “Faith of my Fathers,” he attempted to never glorify war but proved unable to distance himself from it.
When Hilary Clinton was asked by reporters where she was when Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot, she responded that she was in her dorm room at Wellesley. When asked the same question, John McCain responded he was in a Viet Cong prison camp.

In the same prison camp Captain McCain was scarred, beaten, and tortured. Some of his heaviest criticism of the Bush presidency has been on the subject of torture, he himself was given the ‘waterboarding’ treatment in addition to having his arms and legs broken.

His battle for the presidency became his next mission for his country. The McCain campaign pressured the Obama campaign for more town-hall style debates and criticized the Senator’s choice to forgo federal support. In the final scheduled debate of this year McCain sat and faced Obama, telling the nation he regretted the negative tone the campaigns had taken, suggesting that if Obama had agreed to his early meeting style debates, that the election could have been a dialogue for the country.

When the two candidates met on October 16, 2008 he criticized Obama’s inexperience, while Obama criticized his support of President Bush. Senator McCain replied by saying, "Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago."

Senators McCain and Senator Obama fluctuated in the polls throughout the election, but in the final weeks, polls suggested Senator Obama pulling ahead.

McCain’s choice of Governor Sarah cemented his reputation as a maverick. Love her or hate her, she was a divisive issue in this past election, even in her own party. The Las Vegas Sun quoted Senator John Ensign (R-NV) as saying she was inexperienced and ill-equipped.

A Saturday Night Live caricature was born. Tina Fey as Palin traded one-liners with George Bush impersonator Will Ferrel. “Damn you’re folksy,” the satired lame duck Bush told a short-skirted Palin, perching on his desk from the oval office.

The real Maverick McCain visited Saturday Night Live four days before the election. He slyly stumped for himself, describing his strategies of either behaving berserk as a “Double Maverick,” or just being a “Sad Grandpa.”

“Obama will have plenty of times to be president,” pleaded sad grandpa McCain, wanting to contribute to his country one last time.

From war hero to self-described maverick politician to a sad grandpa? What a strange trip it has been .