Coming a little late to the party

Okay, anyone who follows politics already knows what this year's general election narrative will be: Republicans will try to paint Obama as hopelessly liberal and completely out of touch with core Americans' values, while the Democrats will simply strive to paint McCain and Bush with the same brush. There's no question, really, that this scenario favors the Dems, since the social issues on which many might disagree with Obama are far from the voters' conscience this year. What I find interesting is the dance McCain supporters are doing trying to distance themselves from Bush. They say McCain has regularly disagreed with Bush, most notably on climate change.

Here's the problem: a Republican finally acknowledging the facts of global warming reminds me of those Big Tobacco folks who, a few years ago, finally realized what the rest of the world has known for more than 40 years: that nicotine is addictive and cigarettes cause cancer. Did anyone change their minds about Big Tobacco on that day? Did anyone, anywhere, say "Well, I was really against them, but now that they know the truth, I think they're A-OK?"

And another thing: if McCain is so opposed to Bush, why have the two scheduled a series of joint fundraiser appearances in the coming weeks? Doesn't McCain know that every time a journalist snaps a photo of Bush and McCain shaking hands, another direct-mail piece is gonna be sent out by the DNC and a few million bucks will pour into the Dems' campaign war chest?

And finally, has Senator McCain pinned his hopes on all of us having one, huge, collective senior moment during which we forget that he has already promised to continue three of Bush's most divisive and disastrous policies? Namely, the Iraq war, his failed trickle-down economic policies, and his practice of appointing painfully conservative judges and justices who are barely out of diapers.Can we afford four more years of giving money to the sickeningly wealthy in the blind hope that some of the crumbs that fall will sustain the rest of us? Do we want to see thousands more American soldiers die in a war that three-quarters of us oppose? Do we want to see ultra-conservative judges roll back the last 50 years of social advancement? (With at least two Supreme Court justices retiring in the next four years, President McCain would finally be able to overturn Roe v. Wade, which he has committed to doing.)

I don't envy Senator McCain his task. No matter how hard he tries, we won't forget that he's already promised to screw us. He can only hope he fares better at changing voters' minds than those guys at Marlboro did. Anyone want to place bets?