Matt Dowd, the former strategist for George W. Bush’s election who later broke very publically with Bush, suggested that John McCain himself needs to break dramatically with the President. Dowd suggested a speech criticizing Bush for the growth of the federal government. Accepting that McCain will need to demonstrate some distance between himself and the hobbled President, Dowd has offered advice with a startling lack of pizzazz. Much as small-government conservatives would like to think otherwise, eliminating chunks of the federal government does not seem to be a winning message, especially with independent voters.
McCain actually has tried a few breaks with Bush — on global warming and on the general subject of competency (Katrina and the management of the Iraq War). But perhaps on the economy he might, if not break with Bush, at least escape his shadow. McCain’s embrace of the “Bush” tax cuts has always been problematic. It raised issues of consistency since he initially opposed the tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. His adherence to them now forever links him to the unpopular President.
So what to do? McCain need not embrace the Democratic position of massive tax increases. But why not a new tax plan as the ultimate goal of a McCain presidency? There are no shortage of ideas. Mitt Romney raised the notion of tax-free capital gains for the middle class. There are interesting “pro-family” conservative tax plans. And there are any number of variations of the flat tax.
If McCain is in fact going to blunt the argument that his election would be a third Bush term there seems to be every incentive to adopt as a central plank of his domestic agenda something other than “retention of the Bush tax cuts.” Global warming proposals, earmark reform, increased managerial competency and some populist flourishes on health care and the housing crisis are all efforts to distinguish McCain from the incumbent administration. But it may be time for something more dramatic and more innovative.
It would require attention and focus on domestic policy development, a communications efforts to explain it and McCain’s commitment to sell it. And, yes, there are doubts about whether those are within the grasp of the McCain team. But the payoff could be great. At the very least, McCain would have his chance to explain why he is a different kind of Republican.
