McCain too late to the party

WASHINGTON -- Trying to elbow his way into the excitement of the Democratic presidential race, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the next Republican standard-bearer, delivered a flat, uninspired speech on the eve of Sen. Barack Obama's magic moment this week, winning the Democratic nomination.

It was meant to bop Obama, D-Ill., on the nose. But McCain's much-touted timely intervention was a flop. There is no other polite way to put it. McCain was supposed to define his own goals and set down an inspiring conservative marker to warn Democrats he will be a formidable foe in November, even though all the political attention has been directed away from his relatively easy amble to the GOP presidential nomination this spring.

What he actually did, however, was to make voters wonder what he has been doing all this time while the Democrats were busy elsewhere. The answer, based on this opening salvo, seems to be -- not much of anything!

McCain, 71, offered up the same old GOP ideas -- continued support for the Iraq war and President Bush's vast tax cuts for the rich and penny-pinching policies toward national needs, from health care insurance to infrastructure maintenance, in addition to out-dated cultural and social concepts that younger generations no longer buy.

McCain is torn between the need to distance himself from an unpopular president while reminding GOP hardcore partisans that he is a true-believing dogmatic conservative.

It is tough going, especially given his maverick background in the Senate. But clearly he didn't find the right philosophical and practical bridge to cross in last week's speech. The words were tired, but not as much as the delivery. His heart just wasn't in it.

He offered tactical reforms rather than big-idea strategic changes. He proposed a series of small debates with Obama in town hall meetings that he has always favored over formal settings. This could be interesting but only in the search for the "gotcha" factor -- which man will misspeak first? Taking on Obama in a talk-fest has to be a little daunting.

As a practical political matter, such debates will not help McCain unless he can be aroused from his lethargy. He seemed -- forgive me, as his generational cousin, for thinking this -- to be looking and sounding old. Age can be good, as several very agile senators continue to demonstrate, but it is not necessarily a plus in a presidential candidate. Against the youthful Obama, McCain will not stand a chance unless he perks up.

Obama successfully worked the generational divide against Hillary Clinton, remember, and she's only 60, hardly an ancient crone. McCain is counting on his compelling personal military story. It is indeed heroic. But he has to offer more. Simply repeating that we must stay in Iraq despite the casualties is not a policy.

We need to know more about his views on military intervention, as well as his stated preference for ultra-conservative Supreme Court justices, and also the same-sex sniping and law-and-order immigrant-bashing. McCain concedes that he is not a great expert on the domestic economy and some boning up in that direction would be useful for him.

That leads us to the vice presidential question. The potential GOP field is pitiful. There is no one star, as Hillary Clinton is on the Democratic side. Can anyone think of a GOP public figure qualified to be president tomorrow?

Minor politicians are mentioned, but only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney brings even a handful of votes to the table. He is stiff-necked and campaigned well to the right of McCain, which might please the party -- and also ruin it.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was an entertaining competitor who got some conservative votes, but his goofy ideas about creationism and flat taxes ought to sink him forever.

McCain seems to be flirting with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a nationally unknown newcomer whose chief charm may be that he's a man of color (his parents emigrated from India) and would thus demonstrate that the GOP can reach out to those who used to be excluded from the party tent.

But former President George H.W. Bush could remind him of the dangers of a picking a young man with an unexamined past. He picked Sen. Dan Quayle as his running mate in 1988, only to see him embroiled in questions about dodging military service in the Vietnam era. Bush-Quayle won that election but lost the 1992 race to Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

The general election campaign is beginning to roll. But as the Democrats begin to sort things out, McCain has badly bobbled his head start.