McCain: I've got hope, too
Posted: Thursday, May 15, 2008 11:55 AM by Mark Murray
From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
COLUMBUS, OH -- An appeal for cooperation, an optimistic target date for troop drawdown, and a lofty call for post-partisan sweetness and light.
For McCain, Obama doesn't own hope.
In a news-rich speech this morning in the key swing state of Ohio, the Republican Party's nominee-to-be outlined his image of his own future presidency, including the prediction that -- by January 2013 -- the Iraq war will have been won and "most" of the troops in the region will have returned home. McCain also described a future administration marked by transparency, bipartisanship, selfless solutions, and measured debate.
Call it a much-needed re-branding of a Republican Party at its stomping saddest. After losing its third-straight special election on Tuesday -- and likely facing a Democratic Party steered by the candidate whose word-associations are all about change and hope -- the GOP's need for a pick-me up is no secret. (McCain acknowledged as much yesterday. "I have a lot of work to do," he told reporters when asked about the Mississippi loss. "I have no delusions that this campaign will be a very difficult challenge.")
VIDEO: McCain outlines what he hopes his presidency will look like by the end of his first term, if elected.
Today, McCain's promises for the future were sunny. Acknowledging that he "cannot guarantee" achievement of each goal, he went on to lay out a series of hopeful proposals for foreign and domestic policies: Within four years of his inauguration, he said, a new flatter tax will save Americans billions of dollars; the genocide in Darfur will be ending; the border will be secure; Osama bin Laden will be dead or captured; there will be more jobs and less obese kids; commander-in-chief McCain will be holding weekly press conferences; and Democrats will be a part of his administration.
The vision outlined this morning provided a marked -- if not explicit -- contrast to the status quo. (Note his promise, for example, that he will not "subvert the purpose of legislation I have signed by making statements that indicate I will enforce only the parts of it I like.")
The senator's wording on Iraq, in particular, has prompted a flurry of debate over whether the 2013 date implies a timetable for withdrawal. (Campaign aides say that Democratic timetables are not contingent on success in the war, whereas McCain's calendar provides a hopeful target but not an unconditional end date.)
But, in his remarks at the Greater Columbus Convention Center this morning, the greatest applause may have come during McCain's clarion call to cease and desist with partisan bickering. "This mindless, paralyzing rancor must come to an end," he declared.
The applause was long and loud. But no cheers -- quite -- of "Yes, We Can."
*** UPDATE *** The DNC's Howard Dean responded with this statement: "The reality behind Senator McCain's new rhetoric is that his plans either ignore the problems he identifies or actually makes them worse. Whether he is taking President Bush's fiscal policies to new extremes, continuing a stay-the-course strategy in Iraq that has distracted from the real war on terror, or pretending he would bring transparency to government after refusing to even release his own tax records, Senator McCain found yet another way to show he's the wrong choice for America's future."
