The Rupublican "W"

With the primaries for the Democratic party still pretty much up in the air, one thing is now certain. John McCain is the Republican candidate for the 2008 elections. Now, the Republicans are pitching John McCain as a chance to have a “Bush” third term. If Republican's want things to stay the way they currently are, John McCain is their man. So the question becomes, when you're in the middle of a war, should you change horses mid-stream? This question came up 1864 when Abe Lincoln was losing the civil war. Even his own party had abandoned him. As George Bancroft is quoted as saying in Paul F. Boller Jr.'s, Presidential Campaigns, “The outcry against the conduct of the war is deep and unanimous. All blame Lincoln; all in all parties. I have not heard one who does not.” The push in 1864 was to get Lincoln out and someone else in who seemed more competent. The only thing that saved Lincoln was the dramatic turn around in the war 4 months before the election. This secured his reelection at the last minute. Today, it seems like everyone is ready to bail on Bush, and changing horses mid-stream seems like the way to go since the horse we're riding is sinking into a recession. The problem for McCain is that, unlike Lincoln, it does not seem as though this war or this recession is going to make a dramatic turnaround any time soon. We then have to look and think, are there enough strong right wing Republicans to bring home the “W” for McCain?