McCain Speech His Biggest Gamble Yet

Here's the nine-word version of John McCain's speech last night: Vote for the Man not the the Economic Plan. By my count, McCain spent just under one fifth of his acceptance speech—about 18 percent—last night talking about the economy, easily the No. 1 issue with voters today. The vast majority of the address was devoted to a mix of biography, foreign policy, political reform, and what I guess you could describe as a call to national duty. This speech was really a personal statement more than a policy statement.

Now compare that to Bill Clinton's 1992 nomination acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention. The economy, though far stronger than the one today, was the No. 1 issue back then, too. (This was the "It's the economy stupid" election.) Still, Clinton spent closer to a third of his speech, 30 percent, talking about the struggles of the middle class and how he and Uncle Sam were going to help. And Barack Obama? Well, he devoted roughly 45 percent of a slightly longer speech last week to the economy.

Before the speech, here is what I wrote McCain should do:

John McCain has to pretend he's walking into an aircraft carrier "ready room" full of concerned aviators waiting to hear what exactly the mission is and how they can accomplish it. America needs to hear the Prosperity Plan and how it will lead to economic victory.

Now probably few people, either in the arena in St. Paul or at home, watching on television, wanted to hear some wonky speech that was little more than a laundry list of proposals. As one delegate from New York told me right after McCain finished speaking, "That would bore people to death. If they want more detail, they can just go to the Internet and check out McCain's website. And how much detail did Obama have?"

Yet it's McCain whose reputation is that of a politician who's somewhat disinterested in economic issues. A politician who's no expert in economic issues. A politician from a party that's getting blamed for what most people think is a recession. Yet McCain gave a speech that he pretty much could have given in 2004 or even 2000. He was like a bride-to-be who planned her wedding as a teenager and is intent on following that old outline from her diary.

But rather than more specifically comparing and contrasting McCainomics to Obamanomics, or introducing some new element like a more expansive middle-class tax cut, McCain tried to elevate the speech beyond material, kitchen-table issues to one that spoke to a sort of civic spirituality. If we can reform government, if we can reform ourselves with service, then we will have prosperity, we will have peace. Stand up and fight to change America. Don't wait for Uncle Sam. With gas prices and unemployment up and incomes and housing values down, McCain took a tremendous gamble with his message of national self-renewal and personal responsibility. McCain called on Americas to join him on his final mission. I'm not sure they're going to sign up.