Change And The Election

This, it strikes me, is the most salient finding in the NYT poll:

Sixty-four percent of voters polled said that Mr. Obama would bring about real change if elected, while only 39 percent said that Mr. McCain would. And despite Mr. McCain’s increased efforts to distance himself from President Bush, a majority still said that he would generally continue President Bush’s policies.

This is an election about change. The only way McCain could have reversed this dynamic was attacking Bush as a disaster from Day One. But he couldn't do that with the party he heads up and his 90 percent pro-Bush voting record. Failing that, he could have picked Lieberman as his veep, and cast his ticket as a bi-partisan, experienced change agent. But his party could not have tolerated that either. No social and cultural moderate can be a Republican presidential ticket in the era of Rove. So McCain was left with the party that brung him - and we now know what motivates that party: fear of the other and religious fanaticism. Hence his appalling fall campaign - among the most disgusting and hollow I can remember.