McCain's Legacy

The blog post below was written as John McCain's 2008 campaign for president was imploding and it was becoming increasingly clear that Obama was going to win.

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Wouldn't it be a great day if John McCain were to make this speech?

My fellow Americans,

For the past several weeks I have not recognized the man I see in the mirror every morning. My campaign has sunk to depths I never would have imagined possible.

This morning I have fired most of my key campaign advisors and I have asked Sarah Palin to recuse herself as the vice presidential nominee.  I am reconstituting the Straight Talk Express and I promise you that for the remainder of this campaign, I will speak truthfully and from the heart.  I fully expect that this will harm rather than help my prospects of getting elected to the presidency but my hope is that it can shape future elections for the better and allow me to regain, in some part, my honor.

The truth: I picked Sarah Palin to bolster support on the right for my campaign and not because she was the most qualified candidate for the job.  She is a good person and an effective governor of Alaska, but she is woefully unprepared to assume the presidency should I die in office.

The truth: Barack Obama is a good, thoughtful and patriotic man and, while perhaps less experienced than would be ideal, he is fully capable of being the president.  His past associations with a few questionable characters are inconsequential and certainly no worse than some of mine.

The truth: If elected, at some point in my administration, we will almost certainly need to raise taxes.  It is time for conservatives to stop confusing low taxes with small government. True conservatives believe that you don't spend more than you make.

The truth: I have indeed been a champion of deregulation - including for the financial sector. While I still believe strongly in deregulation in general, I cannot deny that the financial sector might be an exception.

For the next few weeks you will hear the real John McCain.  Talking straight will give my opponent innumerable opportunities to use my own words against me.  I hope he will refrain and that the home stretch of this race can truly be about our differences on the issues and that we can show the country and the world the best side of American politics.