John McCain: American First

In the newspapers, Gustave has pushed the Republicans back into the political pages. The convention that must nominate John McCain has already cut back on the presence of heavy weight Republicans like George Bush. From then on, some deputies suggest canceling every speech. John McCain attacking in a decisive week could determin the electoral issue.

In the past few days, the Republicans have had only one objective: keep the events of 2005 from repeating themselves. Three years ago, the Americans accused George W. Bush of incompetence, when his administration hardly knew how to handle the consequences of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. Today, New Orleans is once again at the center of the storm, Gustav is about to breach the levees that protects one of the principal petroleum ports of the country. A catastrophe that could favor John McCain in the polls if he knows how to weather this crisis. But if Barack Obama had been nominated by his party at the Democratic convention that finished last Thursday, the Republican candidate hadn’t yet confirmed his ticket.

Criticize Bush to Come Together Better

The big meeting of the Republican campaign had to take place from Monday the 1st to Friday the 4th of September at St. Paul, Minnesota. In four days, George Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rudy Giuliani, Dick Cheney or even Mitt Romney must counterattack the gains made by Obama last week. But Gustave has pushed the Republican convention’s program aside. The White House has announced that George Bush and his Vice-President Dick Cheney had forgone going to St. Paul, according to a speech on Monday. Keen to play down their attitude after Katrina, the President has taken the initiative this time by promising unfailing suport to the governors in the affected sates- the alarm “Hurricane Alert” had been set off in Louisiana, Mississippi and in Texas. In proof of this good will: Dick Cheney will stay there to follow events, and George Bush himself will come down to local authorities on Monday night, then next Thursday.

The president has all the same taken care to let his party’s candidate take the lead: in effect, John McCain announced on Friday that he would be following the crisis closely. On Sunday, an hour before the announcement of emergency precautions taken by the Bush Administration, the senator from Arizona had decided to cut short the convention at St. Paul: “We are going to suspend the majority of activities with the exception of those that are absolutely necessary.” In other words, the keynote speeches announced for Monday have been canceled, and the rest of the convention’s program remains unknown. In those schedule adjustments, John McCain is nevertheless gaining an advantage: since the launch of the campaign, he has tried to distance himself from any association with the Bush administration. Yet on Sunday night, during an interview for Fox News, John McCain listed all of his differences from George W. Bush. Denouncing the use of torture or the management of the Iraq conflict, the candidate added that if he had been president, “he would have already evacuated Louisiana a week ago.” The fact that the president and Dick Cheney aren’t present in Saint Paul may still play in John McCain’s favor. On the other hand, the appearance of California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has also been reported and could be canceled, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Arizona senator may not be able to get that show of support: with his ecological ideas and his measured liberal efficiencies, Schwarzenegger has succeeded in embodying that wing.

Convention by satellites

On Monday, John McCain and his newly anointed running mate Sarah Palin, were in Mississippi. It is time that “we take off our Republican hats to put on our American hats and say, ‘America, we are with you.” McCain had declared after visiting emergency centers in Jackson. To be near all those people, even if it irritates his own party. In effect, following the course of events, the Arizona senator could recite his acceptance speech by satellite from the Gulf of Mexico. A first in the history of the United States. A solution equally envisioned by the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, by the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist and by the White House- the support of George Bush stays indispensable just the same indispensable because he rallies the conservative wing of the party. Republican loyalists might then thus follow a convention…on a big screen.

Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, indicated to the press that the program of the next three days could still be upended. A Republican delegate has even brought up the “specter of cancellation.” A new decision that would really energize the Democrats. They already criticized McCain’s lack of judgment, who according to a spokesman from the Democratic side, “already takes himself to be president.” Barack Obama himself has chosen discretion in declaring that he would avoid visiting the threatened regions by the hurricane so as not to distract the rescue efforts. He added that in case of serious damage, he would mobilize his network of two million Internet donors to help the victims. The democrats seem the wait for the next misstep of the Republicans, who might benefit from the hurricane to get out of the storm.