The Weeks Review

A PARTY LIKE IT'S 1996

In the corporate world, when a person has devoted their life to the business, has made their mark and is ready to retire, they are thanked for their years of service, given a nice party and some token of esteem by their peers.

It seems that in the GOP, they are given a presidential campaign that's doomed to failure.

In 1996, the Republicans offered up Bob Dole. Bob was a good man, a legitimate war hero and a loyal Republican who had tried the presidential run on other occasions and had not secured the nomination. In 1996, he got the gold ring and was trounced by an incumbent Bill Clinton. Dole never really had a chance against a much younger Clinton.

At the time, I got the impression that Dole got the nomination as some sort of Republican "Lifetime Achievement Award", similar to those directors and actors who are given token awards at the Oscars to make up for the fact that, even though they had a great career, never won the big prize.

Now we have John McCain; a loyal Republican on some issues, but much less so on others. McCain is a larger-that-life figure and a great American, to whom the country owes a debt of gratitude we simply cannot repay. He is a brave man who has the courage of his convictions, even though many of those convictions have been an irritant to many Republicans for years. He, too, has run for president on several occasions and has fallen short of the nomination.

It would appear that McCain may well be on his way to winning the GOP's "Lifetime Achievement Award", and I have to question the sanity of risking a resounding defeat at the hands of a liberal Democrat at this important juncture in our nation's history.

Does anyone really think that McCain matches up well with either of the Democrats' potential candidates? With Hillary, we're looking at the "history-making" woman candidate, and with Obama, the "history-making" black candidate. Either way, I think that we're looking at a major uphill battle in presenting John McCain as a viable alternative to either of these Democrat nominees-in-waiting. If Hillary gets the nod, McCain may have a shot. If it's Obama, I think McCain's toast. There are certain realities in the modern political arena that have to be considered here.

I would encourage my Republican brethren to think carefully in the months ahead. For better, or worse, history will be made on November 4th and we will commence living it on November 5th.