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Bhagyashree Garekar
US Correspondent
McCain finds his feet too late?
October 16, 2008 Thursday, 10:43 PM
Bhagyashree Garekar spotlights the maverick's performance at the final debate.
In Washington This is vintage McCain, they say - clear and commanding. At last he is on the attack, gunning for his rival's weak points and not lacking in passion in denouncing them either. The troubling question: But is it too late?
He seems pleased enough.
People tune in outdoors in Hollywood. For the last few weeks, Mr McCain has been fielding calls to get tough and has hardened his message in response - reinventing himself once more. At the beginning of his campaign, he was the man who stood for victory in Iraq above all. But even then, that slogan had not sold very well. So he set himself up as the leader you could believe in - just as rival Barack Obama cleared the primary hurdle. But that approach never quite took off. Critics said the issue for voters was whether Mr Obama was the leader they could believe in - given his newness on national stage. So Mr McCain saw promise in taking Mr Obama on on his own turf. So while Mr Obama sold the "change you need", Mr McCain said he was the guy to deliver the change. After all, he was the original maverick, the real deal who had already been working to bring change to Washington. Unfortunately, the economic tsunami broke just as the McCain-Palin maverick message was finding takers. Mr McCain was holding the wrong flag yet again - and his ratings took a tumble. Just this week, he did find his voice as the man who will fight for Americans. And this is where he spoke from today, to good effect. He pointed out how Mr Obama broke his promise - forsaking public funds for his campaign after vowing to follow Mr McCain in using them. He raised a question about William Ayers links to Mr Obama. He said emphatically he was not Bush II. A good few months after conservative analysts - Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove and others - had been shouting themselves hoarse that Mr McCain should be doing just that. In the 19 days that remain, is the Vietnam vet facing Mission Impossible? As the bard said, long ago: There is tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows... Tags: 2008, election, us 
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Americans will look in the mirror, metaphorically speaking, and black faces will look back.
And the Obama children, today on the eve of the US Elections, will ask the question: "Are we nearly there, daddy?"
The answer, at last, is: Yes, we are nearly there.
How on earth did McCain pick Palin, an inexperienced "hockey mum", as the running mate? I suppose he was smitten by her beauty..... ? (Read today's ST page A18 "How McCain fell swiftly under Palin's spell").
Can't imagine if McCain becomes President of the most powerful country in the world, and soon after konk-off by a heart attack....and Sarah Palin ("I can see Russia from my home in Alaska!" ; "What is the Bush Doctrine?") takes over as President!
McCain cannot repudiates George Bush by hiding under the skirt of Sarah Palin and claimed that both were mavericks out to deliver CHANGE. Both were too closely intertwined with Bush's policies for the past eight years for any credible disassociation to be believed.
eventually, it is not what they say that is important - it is what they do.
Senator Obama a a fresh contrast to Senator McCain, who seems old, cranky, and impatient.
Senator Obama seems young, calm & cool, and very, very smart.
Obama speaks about he'll do for the country, McCain speaks how Obama is bad for the country. I hope Senator becomes the next US President
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