McCain takes one giant step

The News Virginian
Published: August 18, 2008

The candidate with the carefully coiffed reputation for straight talk finally delivered some Saturday in the hospitable environs of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, and in the process took one of two necessary steps to win the voting affections of conservatives en route to Pennsylvania Avenue. John McCain sounded the part of mighty Casey on a better day, his crisp answers connecting powerfully with Warren offerings grooved squarely over the middle of the plate. McCain’s responses and stature towered.
Barack Obama looked unsteady and unsure, flailing at questions as soft as pudding, exposing a side of him that has existed all along, that of the callow youth called up to the big leagues too early. McCain revealed a side of himself we had not yet seen in this campaign, and dusted his challenger in the nationally televised forum in Lake Forest, Calif. He will win the election, too, provided he holds form.
That will require care in the selection of a running mate. Lacking it, McCain could find that the ground gained over the weekend could be irretrievably lost.
But first to Saddleback.
Obama entered with the hope – a favored term – of nibbling at a traditionally Republican bloc: evangelicals whose zeal for McCain has been like that which most of us possess for lawn chores. Evangelicals, in other words, have been prepared to vote for McCain, but not prepared to enjoy the act. If Obama could appeal to a small portion of that base and thus chink it, he would pick up crucial votes in November.
For McCain, the opportunity was considerable. If he could convince evangelicals that his conservatism, in contrast to his maverick record, was real, at least on the issues of import, starting with abortion, he could bolster his hold on a badly needed constituency.
On this, McCain succeeded fabulously. While Obama prevaricated on the abortion question, McCain was unequivocal: Human beings gain human rights, he said, “at the moment of conception.” Then he added to applause from the Saddleback crowd, “I will be a pro-life president, and this presidency will have pro-life policies.” It was one among many shots McCain sent sailing into the night.
There were others likely to be noticed by a broader constituency.
Asked what should be done about evil, Obama swung meekly, murmuring about Darfur, evil in American streets and the wrongdoing perpetrated amid good intentions. McCain snapped to, citing Osama bin Laden – whom both Obama and President Bush seem to have forgotten – and vowing to follow him “to the gates of hell.”
Fielding a question about a gut-wrenching decision, Obama stammered about campaign ethics reform, which the junior senator briefly tackled with McCain before fleeing to the sides of his Democratic allies, drawing a sharply worded missive of rebuke from McCain. On the same question, McCain cited something of meaning, his decision to forgo a return home from a prison camp in Vietnam.
It was a shining hour for a candidate who has had few so far, and it was timely, given Obama’s recent fade.
Now McCain must validate Saturday’s performance with similar precision in his selection of a running mate. The names of Tom Ridge and Democrat Joe Lieberman have been bandied about. Both represent a step sharply left. Obama has that market cornered. To retain Saturday’s momentum and enhance it, McCain must show in choosing the one who will stand with him in November that his words are more than talk, straight or otherwise.