Is There a Singular Reason For McCain’s Problems Campaigning?

Liberal blogger Josh Marshall looks for a “Grand Unified Theory of McCain Crappiness.” I found some of his reader comments somewhat insightful and some others not insightful whatsoever (they were more along the lines of liberal wishful thinking). Matt Yglesias adds that McCain has been coasting his entire political career. I think there’s something to that.

If I were to make a theory on John McCain, it’d be that he only considers issues on the basis of national honor. Complicated issues that blur the lines of honor seem to interest him much less. Take his positions on economics. Aside from previously stating that he knew little about economics, McCain’s generic statements gave a lot distaste to conservatives in the primary. Instead of looking at the economy, McCain focuses on spending. He may not be able to explain the market in terms of honor, but he can explain that spending money irrationally is a breach of honor. It’s also why he does well where he does. His wheelhouse is talking about matters of honor. That’s why he is so compelling talking about the war; most other Republicans would have been doing far worse on the issue, even with recent developments in Iraq, had they been nominated instead of McCain. By contrast, McCain doesn’t consider building or running a campaign as a matter of honor; it’s just an annoying prerequisite to running for office. That’s why he can be so laissez-faire in how he runs things. On Climate Change, by contrast, McCain sees honor in taking the issue on, but doesn’t know enough about the issue to even understand, apparently, if his cap and trade even includes a cap. You can even see this matter of honor is McCain’s campaign logo.

That’s why you see so many high profile issue Republicans as surrogates for McCain. Phil Gramm has to be involved, since McCain himself does not know a lot about the economy.

Obama’s faults seem to be as present, but far more nuanced than John McCain’s large flaw. I’ll discuss Obama’s faults, such as his duplicity, at a later time.