McCain and the roll-the-dice meme
What a funny old world this is. And it's especially funny thanks to John McCain, who knows how to get us making jaw music. So, let's get talking. Two items, in chronological order. First up, Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times. "McCain: a roll-the-dice commander" is how his column today is titled and the bottom line is this: "Mr Obama is by temperament a cautious, pragmatic conciliator. Mr McCain is aggressive, unorthodox and radical." The tenor of the piece is that the Republican is too much of a maverick for the writer's taste and, by extension, those careful types who expect the FT to chart them a safe course through this valley of tears.
Next up, Matt Frei of the BBC. "John 'Wayne' McCain rolls dice with the 'Barracuda'" is how it's titled on the homepage. Of the two pundits, it is the German-born Frei who comes across as "getting" it, while the English-educated Rachman appears to misunderstand the core issue. Frei has the advantage, of course, because he's been reporting on the US for three years now. Anyway, here's how his grasp of the story shines through. Regarding the Palins, he notes that...
"...Sarah has been hunting, fishing and shooting ever since she could walk. Add the fact that her husband Todd — known in Alaska as the 'First Dude' — was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in 1986 and you get the picture. This family could not be more different from stuffy Washington. They are real, unvarnished Americans.They make Cindy McCain, with her $100m (£56m) fortune and husky eyes rimmed by gothic mascara, look positively extra-terrestrial."
Frei then adds the killer line: "The Democrats' senatorial duo of Barack Obama and Joe Biden suddenly begin to appear quite staid." But it is this very staidness that so appeals to Gideon Rachman and all the other representatives of the status quo. They do not want to see America's awesome power in the hands of people they cannot identify with. The elites of the 1980s, especially on the FT's side of the Atlantic, despised Ronald Reagan because he was, let's face it, an unvarnished American. Palin and McCain are as far from the Geneva set as one could imagine, but that may yet be their trump card. Whatever it is that they are, staid is not one of the adjectives that describes them. Thankfully.
