Where did my McCain go?

There was once a vibrant and passionate politician who stood for something. He meticulously avoided shady dealings and always tried to do what he thought was right. People loved him for it, he was called a maverick and a straight-talker.

He stepped across party boundaries in an attempt to make the political process more balanced.

Nowadays you don’t hear much about that guy. Wait, did you think I was talking about Barack Obama? Obviously not since you can’t turn on a TV or radio without hearing his name.

I’m trying to figure out what the heck happened to John McCain.

Where once the American people loved his firey nature, they now seem to be chiding his temper. And while he once stood for fair election practices, he’s now caught up in a campaign financing debacle that seemed to threaten his whole campaign at one time.

It may be that this term is played out by now, but it really seems like McCain has sold out.

In 2000 it seemed like he offered a stark contrast to the Reagenesque spend and hope ideals of G. Bush Jr.

Now it seems as if his mesage is that he plans to continue the failed policies of that administration.

He talks about a gas tax holiday when what we really need to talk about is conservation–cutting back that is, not hugging trees.

This is a conservative who makes no bones about being pro-life while still supporting stem-cell research.

And maybe that’s the problem. While we love John McCain for his personal story as a war hero and independent man, we don’t necesarrily like his policies, or at least not all of them.

McCain is a politician for a group that really doesn’t exist. His political views are defined issue by issue rather than by a party line.

At the same time that we like that in a man, it’s political suicide. People like predictability and consistency, they like someone who, once they know where he stands on the Iraq War, they know where he’ll stand on immigration and gay marriage–two issues where McCain has repeatedly refused to toe the party line.

With John McCain it’s something of a crap shoot. He’ll make up his own mind and damned be the consequences.

At least, that used to be the image he put forward. Now it seems like that one thing we like about him–that he wanted to end corruption and fight insider politics–is gone as he court the same political figures that he spurned in 2000.

It seems that he’s lived to learn from his lesson in 2000. Being a “maverick” isn’t enough to win the presidency. He needs the support of those party insiders to bolster his war chest.

His drop from headlines is obviously hurting him. Though they haven’t gone after him with any vigor yet, Democratic candidates have made off hand comments and worked through proxy to tarnish the 70-year-old’s image without him being able to snipe back.

The real test seems to be coming up in the general election. Will McCain resort to what many journalists refer to as the “Karl Rove playbook,” or will he keep it above the board and make this about the issues that we all want to know about.

I really hope it’s the second choice, because I don’t know how much more jaded I can get without going all rigid and green.