Don’t like McCain? He won’t win anyway

Those who are less than enthusiastic about John McCain as the republican presidential nominee needn’t worry what he may or may not do as president of the United States, because he isn’t going to win.
Sorry to burst the bubbles of “Mac” supporters, but the veteran Arizona senator and war hero is poised to go down in political history the way his long-time colleague, former Sen. Robert Dole, R-KS, did in his 1996 presidential campaign. The republican powers-that-be had decided that 1996 was Bob Dole’s turn at party glory. The presidential nomination was his reward for many years of party loyalty. Like Mac, Dole was also a war hero. But it didn’t suffice against incumbent President Bill Clinton.
This year is evidently Mac’s time to shine after 25 years in the U.S. Senate. But being the pick of the establishment isn’t enough to get Mac elected. And it certainly isn’t good strategy for the Republican Party, which may very well find itself having to compete against the insane popularity of junior Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL.
Even Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, just a few months ago considered the democratic presidential front-runner and more or less anointed as the next president of the United States, now finds herself trailing in polls, delegates and states to Obama and his swelling number of followers.
Mac will have an uphill battle against either Clinton or Obama, but much more so with the latter. Mac represents the status quo of the current administration. Obama, by contrast, has billed himself as the ultimate change agent.
Many people, including republicans, are suffering from Bush fatigue. Mac can be drawn along similar lines as Bush. He has vowed to continue fighting the War on Terror pretty much in the same fashion Bush has thus far—a strategy not all too popular even among Republican Party faithful. He also appears ready to deal with illegal immigrants the way Bush has: by encouraging them to stay illegally.
Unfortunately for Mac, I think enough undecided and swing voters may vote for the democratic nominee out of protest against the status quo and end up defeating him at the ballot box. There will also undoubtedly be a number of conservatives who either strike their ballots for a third party candidate or simply won’t vote at all just because Mac is the republican candidate.
I remember all too well what happened to former President George H.W. Bush in 1992. He lost his re-election bid because conservatives were upset over his “read my lips, no new taxes” gaffe that he unwittingly reneged on prior to the 1992 presidential campaign.
I fear Mac will suffer the same fate as Bush did at the hand of conservative wrath, because of his co-sponsorship of the infamous amnesty bill in 2007, which upset a lot of people.
His only shot at the presidency is if Hillary Clinton wins the democratic nomination over Obama—a task that only months ago seemed a mere formality, but now appears to be a daunting feat.
There may well be more animosity toward Hillary than Mac, by virtue of the rather obvious impression she leaves as a power zealot.
But then again, Bill Clinton was elected in 1992 out of anger. His wife may just as well be, too.