John McCain: Why He Failed

Amidst all the jubilation of the Democrats and, in particular, the Obama campaign, spare a thought for an old man. An old man on his last hurrah who has had his hopes dashed. An old man who has given a great deal for his country, yet was beaten in the final analysis by a much younger and less experienced man. Although a younger guy with better hair. Yes, spare a thought for John McCain. Regardless of whether he thought he could sneak a victory in at the last minute or not, the past 24 hours have been shitty for Senator McCain. And the disappointment won’t be going away any time soon.

Make no mistake about it, this was the last chance saloon for McCain. Pretty much all the other candidates in this election could have another go for the Presidents – Clinton, Palin (*shivers*), Huckabee (*retches*), Romney, Biden (possibly), maybe even Edwards (if people can get over his inability to keep his pants zipped up outside of his marriage) – these people could all have another shot at the Presidency. Had Obama lost, he certainly could have done (and, I reckon, would have done). But for McCain, the game is up. He’s 72 now; the next time the Presidential Election circus comes to town, he’ll be 76. He’s not running again. His White House dream died at 4am this morning.

But I’m not going to spend too much time wailing on behalf of John McCain. His real time – the moment when he should have won the nomination and then the presidency – was eight years ago, but he lost it to Bush. This time he looked more than ever like a man in the wrong place at the wrong time. But he really didn’t help himself, and his defeat has as much to do with his own actions as with the man he was up against.

There are some things that McCain just could not help. He is in the same party as a deeply unpopular, and also hated, President. That party has also developed political schizophrenia, torn between fiscal conservatives and rabid, Christian fundamentalist loonies. And McCain worked hard to distance himself from his President and from his party. But ultimately he is Republican, and this year was perhaps the worst year to run as Republican since 1976.

Events also seemed to conspire against Senator McCain, and it never helps when the economy tanks and you are representing the incumbent party. Yet here, there is more McCain could have done. Yes, events are unpredictable, but politicians have complete control over how they respond to them. And as the US economy slipped into a critical state, McCain’s choice of at first denying there was a problem, then noticing the issue before suspending his campaign to look presidential looks in the cold light of day like a not just a strategic blunder, but actually a campaign calamity.

He also dropped the ball by going very negative on Obama at a late stage in the campaign. Whilst he stopped short of doing the cut throat character assassination himself, all the talk of Obama being a pal of terrorists, and the rumours about Obama not being Christian or being a Muslim were not just untrue, but also showed the level of debate that McCain was aiming at. Yeah, Obama’s lofty sentiments about change were (and are) completely intangible, but at least they sounded positive. To attack an opponent during depressing economic times adds to the sum total of misery within a country, which is never going to go down to well.

But for me, the real blunder was the choice of Vice-President. At first, Governor Palin really seemed to help the McCain campaign. However, in the final analysis the only real ways in which she gathered praise was by being female, and being able to read from an autocue at a national convention. As soon as the razor thin Palin façade was scratched, it became clear that America was being asked to put an out and out, fundamentalist winker a heart beat away from the Presidency. After eight years of having a out and out, fundamentalist wanker as President. And given his health problems and age, McCain’s choice of vice-presidential candidate took on an even more urgent and important tone.

And it wasn’t just the person who was the issue with McCain’s choice of Vice-President. After all, Biden is a twice failed Presidential candidate and Kinnock plagiarist. He also has a tendency to have what you might call foot-in-mouth disease. But Biden was a dull choice, uninspired, but safe. Palin was a gamble – a massive, scary gamble. And McCain has made it clear for everyone – when you gamble, things can go wrong as well as right. Ultimately, though, he should have known just how much of a risk Palin was. He should have done the leg work, he should have met with her more than twice, he should have her had her properly vetted. And had he done all that, he might have seen that Palin would end up as a millstone round his neck rather than the life jacket he so desperately needed.

McCain comes across as someone who has fought his whole life. The sad truth for him is that he lost his final battle. And when you look at it, the failure was down to him as much as it was down to anyone else.