McCain Officially Clinches GOP Nomination
We’re officially stuck with him now.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, a political maverick and unflinching supporter of the war in Iraq, clinched the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday night. Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primary in Vermont, and the two rivals dueled in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island in a riveting race for their party’s presidential nomination.
McCain, 71, gained the 1,191 delegates needed to claim the Republican nomination with a series of primary victories, completing a remarkable comeback that began in the snows of New Hampshire six weeks ago. President Bush invited him to the White House for a show of support on Wednesday.
All due respect to McCain for an impressive political comeback. Back in October I got a chance to hear McCain speak in Washington DC and had this to say about the experience:
McCain himself seemed…very tired. Lethargic even. Like he’s at the bitter end of a very tough campaign (which, in fact, he is). He mouthed some things about fiscal conservatism, invoked Reagan and even got off a good one-liner about how he’d be about to win the Presidency if he looked like John Thune. But ultimately the crowd’s cheering and applause to McCain’s speech seemed…strained. Like they wanted to believe what he was saying, but weren’t quite sure if he actually meant it all.
Which is sort of the problem with McCain anyway, isn’t it?
At that point I’d written McCain off, but here he is standing astride the GOP as the nominee for President.
Impressive, if not exactly satisfying for conservatives.
