My Ethics and Public Policy Center colleague Yuval Levin has a significant essay in the new issue of The Weekly Standard. It puts forward a policy narrative for the McCain campaign–one that is forward-looking, comfortably fits McCain’s personality and record, and which responds to the real concerns of voters.
The essay argues that McCain is (so far) missing a coherent campaign narrative and an organizing principle. Yuval suggests “a comprehensive reform agenda, which frame[s] America’s challenge in terms of revitalizing and reimagining its core public institutions.” Conservatives have a chance to “fundamentally alter some of the assumptions behind our large public agencies of regulation, governance, and welfare,” according to Levin. The goal should be to “plant in the architecture of our largest public institutions, the conservative commitment to individual freedom and initiative, to the centrality of parenthood and the family, and to the cause of American strength in the world.”
Rather than offering only thematic advice, Levin provides specific areas ripe for conservative reform–from health care, entitlements, education, taxes, credit markets and corporate governance to immigration, regulatory agencies, the budget process, and national security. McCain has done some of this, but much more can be done–and needs to be placed under a governing banner.
“[B]y advancing an ambitious agenda–one that if anything is too heavy on specifics,” according to Levin, “McCain could provide a sensible and coherent explanation for the generalized anxiety of the American public today and a road map toward addressing it head on.”
John McCain is a man with an impressive, and in parts awe-inspiring, biography. He has the capacity to appeal to large numbers of the American people. And lately real weaknesses have emerged in Barack Obama’s candidacy. He is a completely orthodox liberal–and, it appears, a thin-skinned one as well. He faces demographic hurdles that appear to be quite high, and his past associations have created questions about both his judgment and character. But Obama is blessed with real skills and talent. In addition, he has built an extremely impressive political operation. And it’s hard to overstate how bad the current political environment is for Republicans.
Senator McCain therefore needs to supplement his character and persona with a compelling, policy-specific agenda, one he can present in a way that captivates the public imagination. He now has an excellent one to employ, courtesy of Yuval Levin. John McCain should use it, and soon.
