Election Eve Wistfulness

As we approach tomorrow's historic election, I was struck by an article in the Telegram & Gazette written by David Brooks. (Tuesday, Oct. 28, p. A11 "Old-style GOP conservatism failed to adapt to new world"). To view the complete article, click the link to The New York Times, the paper that originally published this article. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26brooks.html?_r=1&.oref=slogin
See comment below. Mr. Brooks begins his article by describing two traditional approaches to government. He calls them "orthodox liberalism" and "free-market conservatism". Throughout the rest of the article, however, Mr. Brooks discusses a third way, a middle-of-the-road alternative he labels "progressive conservatism". Beginning with Alexander Hamilton, Mr. Brooks traces "progressive conservatism" through Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. He ends with John McCain and speaks about how Senator McCain could have become the next president to grab the baton and run with the republican party to move it into that "Hamilton-to-Bull Moose tradition." Mr. Brooks goes on to say that McCain, in spite of his capabilities of carrying the GOP to the center, failed to do so. In Mr. Brooks' words, "Some of us hoped that by reforming his party, which has grown so unpopular, McCain could prove that he could reform the country. But McCain never took sides in this debate and never articulated a governing philosophy, Hamiltonian or any other."

It is this realization and wistfulness which I share with David Brooks. I wonder who John McCain could have been and what he could have done. Thinking about those possibilities and knowing the opportunities are lost make me feel at one with the gathering gloom of this November election eve afternoon.

David Brooks concludes his article. "McCain would be an outstanding president. In government, he has almost always had an instinct for the right cause. He has become an experienced legislative craftsman. He is stalwart against the country's foes and cooperative with its friends. But he never escaped the straightjacket of a party that is ailing and a conservatism that is behind the times. And that's what makes the final weeks of this campaign so unspeakably sad."