Mourning the Maverick

At Smith, it's surprising to hear someone stand up for a Republican on any level, so when a friend at our debate watch party mentioned her former love for McCain in the midst of the college student battleground for Obama, I was shocked. Then, out of curiosity, I started my own personal vetting process, and uncovered the best kept political secret since Deepthroat. John McCain is dead.

Turns out the McCain we know now is only a shadow of his former self, a shell where a Maverick used to stand. Eight years ago McCain wasn't such a bad guy; in fact, in the 2000 primaries he was black-listed as the anti-Bush, the nonreligious "Democrat's Republican." Even on the seemingly iron-clad grip the GOP has on the Pro-Life stance, McCain was willing to challenge the terms. He supported making exceptions for such instances as rape, incest and risk to the mother's life. He used to support stem-cell research, thought marriage laws should be left to the states and previously proposed an amnesty law for immigrants.

Unfortunately, this McCain is no longer with us. One glance at the Republican Party platform, or five minutes of listening to his debate last Friday, is like reading our Maverick's obituary. Abortion? Under no circumstances. Stem-cell research? Absolutely not. Gay marriage? Only if by gay you mean a happily married man and his wife. And that amnesty idea? Not so much.

The late McCain of eight years ago has been replaced by a marionette of the Republican Party, trying desperately to at once appeal to Bush's former Religious Right constituency and to separate himself entirely from W's failings - hate to say it, but that sounds downright paradoxical. And worse, political.

It's at this point in my research that it all starts making sense to me. The giant "look at me!" moves of his campaign, the brilliantly political gimmick of his vice-presidential nomination, and finally the stunt he pulled last week heading into his first debate with Barack Obama.

I tend to laud Obama for his youth, exactly for this trait of innovativeness and "maverick" we see in our beloved McCain of yesteryear. My youth argument is only proven further when it comes to McCain's recent sell-out; he's given up, given in, ditched his once pioneering ideas for the machine. In all honesty his life is running short, and the Maverick wasn't about to be elected by the Republican party, so he became this robot who speaks and walks as they do instead.

I don't disagree anymore that McCain was a good guy, someone I can even see myself agreeing with, maybe even - painful as it is to admit it - voting for. But this isn't the McCain campaign anymore. This is politics turned sports metaphor, it's big and ugly and impersonal; and most importantly it's about winning. The "McCain" ticket is all "tactics" and "strategy." Who can hold the media's attention the longest? How many ways can we lie, scandalize and manipulate the truth during one campaign long enough to gerrymander the polls in our favor? From the media-frenzied pick of Sarah Palin to last week's "suspension of his campaign," this new Robo-McCain seems to stop at nothing to pull even slightly ahead of his opponent; he changed his views, picked a running mate he had never even met, and made a hollow threat to not show up to the first debate until he personally solved the crisis on Wall Street - or just showed up to a meeting and offered no new ideas or information. The New McCain has already shown that issues mean nothing to him, that he'll gladly give up his own ideals in favor of winning and has already made several decisions that show his neglect for the good of America.

This McCain knows politics, he knows how to campaign; he's exploited every possible facet of himself, his opponents and the media in order to make his 72-year-old, bottom of the class, bachelor's degree holding, nothing special, old, white, on the verge of death self appear as if he actually stands a chance against a 47-year-old, self-made graduate of Columbia and Harvard Law, who has inspired and empowered a nation into believing that all in America is not lost.

That's damn impressive politics, but also a tragic story of the loss of one of the few politicians who hadn't yet given in to the ugly game of American politics. May he rest in peace.