A Case For McCain?

Win-win for Dems and Reps? Reihan thinks out loud:

Not that this will convince any Democrats, but consider: What if John McCain presided over a very liberal, very Democratic Congress? Imagine that McCain pledges to serve only one term, as Ramesh Ponnuru suggested in March. My sense is that he would try to lower the partisan temperature. In foreign policy, he would return to his Scowcroftian roots: try to achieve "peace with honor" in Iraq, but don't expand the conflict. To secure continued funding for US efforts in Iraq, and in service to centrist principle, he would make concessions on key domestic issues. Democrats would thus achieve a number of longstanding policy objectives.

What's in this for Republicans? The public has shifted left. This New Deal in minor key would ratify that shift, and the terrain of partisan rivalries would shift with it. By successfully establishing universal health care as the new baseline, Democrats would give Republicans room to propose popular, market-friendly reforms.