The Perfect McCain Platform

Bill Whittle wrote an article for National Review last week summarizing the appeal of McCain and Palin's well received acceptance speeches. I think Whittle is spot on. If McCain and Palin can bottle that stuff the election is theirs. You can take what Whittle wrote and distill it down to a simple campaign strategy for Sen. McCain:

• To those who worry about your age...remind them your mother is 96.
• Use the story of your family's tradition of military service to remind people that some things are more important than politics.
• Remind us that it's a dangerous world out there, and you have the experience and the good judgment to be commander-in-chief.
• Admit that we Republicans lost the confidence of the people because we weren't true to our principles: personal integrity, fiscal responsibility and individual liberty.
• Commit to returning Washington to these principles and remind everyone that you and Gov. Palin have a track record of reform and independent thinking.
• Let Gov. Palin continue to demonstrate that she understands the lives of ordinary Americans because she is one of them.
• Be humble.
• Be hopeful.
• Be patriotic.
• Remind us that we live in the greatest country in the world, prosperous and strong, a defender of freedom and justice, a bulwark against tyranny and oppression.

I don't think the Democrats help their cause by always talking about how terrible things are and how bad the United States is. Most Americans are patriots. We don't like it when the Europeans criticize and belittle and scold us. Obama and Biden need to avoid that Euro-tone of elitist condescension like the plague. McCain and Palin can capitalize on the Democratic tendency by being unabashedly patriotic. "Sure there are some problems and when we're elected we're going to tackle them head on. But this is still the greatest country in the history of the world, and we are proud to be Americans!"