McCain went into the general election inheriting the baggage from a disastrous Bush second term, marked by a stagnating, casualty-intensive Iraq occupation and passive federal leadership in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. Bush, the first MBA President, did not seem to have a detailed plan of what to do in nation-building after the successful liberation of Iraq; he did urge Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco to evacuate, which they failed to do, but didn't seem to have a plan once the levees started failing. He also failed to keep a Republican-led Congress for the first 6 years of his tenure in check from massive deficit spending. McCain had also to play his ties to the President, still popular with the base, for the Republican primaries, which made it difficult to distance himself in the general election as Barack Obama made him eat each photo op together with Bush and every vote cast consistent with Bush's stands on Senate votes. In addition, McCain's positions on Social Security and health care reform were very similar to Bush's; from a tactical standpoint, given the fact that Bush's proposals were dead on arrival, McCain probably needed to differentiate himself on those issues, key to a number of voters.
John McCain also had a sticky situation in terms of having to compete against a black candidate where anything done or said by the campaign or his supporters could be scrutinized for any hint of racism; we saw that play out when Rep. John Lewis, someone McCain has praised in print, heard the term "kill him" was shouted at a Palin rally and assumed it was intended for Obama (it turned out an individual said that after Palin mentioned Bill Ayers, a former domestic terrorist whom worked with Obama on education issues.)
Barack Obama had a much easier road: a highly-motivated base, hungry after the Gore and Kerry defeats; a normal change election cycle, which has operated since the 1950's; superior fundraising; a deteriorating economy; the lack of a substantial voting record which would alienate special interest groups; his opponent's age and selection of a running mate which undermined the experience argument. Obama backed off his commitment to public financing and also an agreement for joint townhall meetings, agreeing only to the minimal number of public debates; these steps gave him a strategic money advantage and lowered his risk for another "meet without preconditions" gaffe. And then the financial tsunami fell into his lap. Obama regained the lead from a McCain Palin/convention bounce and never looked back. He had also built a strong ground game for the caucuses (including red states), outorganizing Hillary Clinton, and used that as a baseline to force McCain to defend his own territory.
I regret the election outcome, because I honestly believe that America missed the chance to elect the best President of my lifetime. I believe in McCain so much I made the first political contributions in my life--at times when I didn't have a job and before the first primary vote was cast (although I worked as a volunteer in the Carter campaign and stood for Ted Kennedy in the 1980 Texas caucus). I thought (and still do think) McCain is a true reformer, an officer and a gentleman and proven bipartisan leadership, a family history of distinguished military service and a POW whom refused preferential early release, a man with straight talk, no spin and no hidden agenda, a man whom is willing to sacrifice his greatest political ambitions to do what's right for our beloved country, an uncommon man of integrity, due, honor, and courage. A man of class, grace and loyalty, whom heard himself personally attacked by Dems, including John Kerry, whom McCain defended during the 2004 campaign, as "erratic", mercurial, hot-tempered, blood-lusty, and senile, but maintained his dignity and stood by his selection of Sarah Palin, even as she became a political liability with independents and moderates. I am privileged and honored to have had the opportunity to vote for a man I truly respect, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
McCain gave one of the most stirring and gracious concession speeches ever:
The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Sen. Barack Obama to congratulate him.To congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love...He managed to [inspire] the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight... I...offer him my sincere sympathy that his beloved grandmother did not live to see this day,...so very proud of the good man she helped raise.I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in ...offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to...bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited... We fought as hard as we could. And though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours...I won't spend a moment of the future regretting what might have been. This campaign was and will remain the great honor of my life, and my heart is filled with nothing but gratitude for the experience and to the American people for giving me a fair hearing...I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Sen. Obama...
I thank you, Senator McCain, for having fought the good fight, for having finished the race, for having kept the faith. You are a man among men. The valiant efforts and sacrifices of you, your ancestry and millions of veterans are the bedrock of this nation. Whatever the president-elect and others may accomplish, they would do well to remember these words of Sir Isaac Newton: "“If I have been able to see further, it was only because I stood on the shoulders of giants.”
