Every former speechwriter likes to give armchair advice about what a candidate ought to say. Here is where I think John McCain should go tonight:My friends, over the past seven years, we have seen the two things we trusted in most badly shaken. Seven years ago, on 9/11, we lost our sense of domestic security when the most savage act of terrorism in our history occurred. Thank God we have not seen another attack since. But the war in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the terrorism that continues around the world tells us all that we are living in a very different world from the one I grew up in.
More recently, we have seen our economic security badly shaken. I’ve heard from dozens of people in just the last few days who have seen years of savings disappear in what increasingly appears to be a global financial crisis. The trust we had in private and government institutions has been shattered.
To find our way back from these two crises – the security crisis and the economic crisis – requires thinking about the world in a new way. It requires questioning basic assumptions. It requires taking on sacred cows and confronting powerful groups.
That is precisely what I have done my whole career. I’ve been in Washington a long time, but as anyone will tell you, I’ve made a lot of enemies.
I’ve stood up against my party. Against my friends. Against my supporters. Against my president. When the Democrats in Congress wanted to expand the unchecked power of Fannie Mae, I warned against it. When the Republican Secretary of Defense refused to put more troops in Iraq in order to win, I railed against him. When the wealthiest political donors wanted unfettered access to Washington, I challenged them regardless of party. Rush Limbaugh thought I was a disastrous choice to lead my party. So did the ultra-liberals at the Daily Kos.
You can only win that type of bipartisan enmity when you think outside of the system. When you refuse to go along. When you don’t play by the rules. That is who I am, and I admit it without apology.
Senator Obama is a very new face in national politics. But his brand of politics is very old. He keeps trying to tie me to President Bush. What he won’t tell you is how, since arriving in Washington, he has marched in lockstep with his party’s establishment. He votes 96 percent of the time with his party. He is cautious when you need to be bold. He is conventional when the country needs innovation.
He talks about bipartisan politics – but he never reached out to the other side. He has never pushed a new idea. He has never stuck his neck out in the Senate. In Springfield, where he served in the Illinois State Legislature, every time a tough issue came up, he voted present. He is a beautiful orator, but he is a typical politician. He thinks inside the system. He offers nothing new.
Today, we need a different type of leadership. A different type of thinking. A willingness to challenge the status quo. An ability to create a new type of politics.
Barack Obama is an outstanding man and our country should be proud to have him in national politics. But at the moment, we need someone with a record a new thinking and hard decisions. Those are the hallmarks of my career in the Senate. Those will be the hallmarks of my presidency.
What do you think?
