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Obamacons And the Myth of McCain

It’s a not bad read, though his arguments seem to boil down to hating Sarah Palin, not believing John McCain will balance the federal budget, and enjoying Obama’s books. ~Jim Antle That’s not entirely fair to Buckley, who simply expressed profound embarrassment and perplexity concerning Palin, but it makes for a pretty good short description […]

It’s a not bad read, though his arguments seem to boil down to hating Sarah Palin, not believing John McCain will balance the federal budget, and enjoying Obama’s books. ~Jim Antle

That’s not entirely fair to Buckley, who simply expressed profound embarrassment and perplexity concerning Palin, but it makes for a pretty good short description of the Obamacon argument: the Republicans are ridiculous, and at least Obama is intelligent, so that’s something.  Indeed, that might be the Obamacon bumper sticker slogan: “I’m voting for the intelligent one for a change.”  There is basically no positive case for Obama, because I don’t think a conservative can actually make one, except to say that he might do slightly less damage than another Republican. 

Buckley’s remarks on McCain are interesting in what they tell us about the pervasive nature of the McCain myth: McCain used to be authentic, you see, but now he is not (not true–he has always been the same person!); he showed tremendous bravery in backing the “surge” (not true–it was enormously popular among GOP regulars and primary voters!); McCain has changed (see the first point).  This is the sort of whinging justification Obama supporters on the right often have to make to save face, which further reinforces the old McCain myth: if only McCain had remained true to himself, I would have supported him, but now he has sacrificed his integrity!  What few seem willing to accept is that McCain has always been like this, and his past admirers have blinded themselves to his flaws because they found him useful or were swayed by his biography, and until very recently most have had no problem with McCain’s flaws.  Indeed, they seem incapable of admitting that McCain has any flaws of his own, but are insistent that whatever is wrong with him is the function of the pressures of the campaign. 

They have been wrong about him for a very long time and don’t want to admit that, so they make the less insulting choice of endorsing his opponent.  It is much more generous to McCain to pretend that the presidential campaign has somehow forced him to become someone he isn’t.  It is a compliment to say that one is endorsing Obama only because McCain has betrayed his true self.  None of this is true, and it reflects a remarkable deference to McCain even at this late stage of the game that so many people are saying it.  Of course, this myth also helps to excuse their support for McCain for so many years.

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