Must give props to Newsweek. They did it again. Yesterday when I checked the mail, the cover of this week’s edition made me pause. Not only is it funny, but it’s also extremely true.

The likely McCain nomination captures the state of the GOP. What does it mean to be a Republican anymore? We have social liberals/fiscal conservatives, we have Crunchy Cons (socially conservative/fiscally liberal), libertarian leaning Republicans (fiscal conservatives/”I don’t give a damn about anything else”) and the enigmatic Evangelicals who support anyone waving a Bible around and claim to be pro-life.

McCain represents a party that doesn’t know its soul anymore. The conservative elite and pundits dislike McCain because he’s never courted them. Those loyal to the GOP are begrudgingly supporting him in the face of a Hillary regime or an Obama socialist utopia. What other options do we have? Where are McCain’s excited core supporters? I’d like to meet one.

I’m not thrilled with McCain, but I’ll support him and vote for him next November. The pragmatic part of me, the part that has worked in DC and seen the messy side of policymaking, understands that he may be able to pull off a win and get things accomplished inside the Beltway. Where Bush polarized, McCain can partner.

Then there’s the small voice of a conservative ideologue gasping for air in my political views. McCain sold out to moderates and Democrats too many times to count. He’s pro-life, but the conservative spectrum has so many other issues in it now. His policies on immigration and campaign finance reform bother me. This voice almost wants a Democrat to win, so we can purge the party and re-discover our ideology.

However, with issues like universal health care and the war on terror to be decided in the next administration, I’m terrified at the prospect of a Democrat in power. Face it, the next four years will be filled with so many political landmines that no leader can emerge unscathed. Unless something amazing happens, 2012 is likely to be as messy as this election. I don’t know how any party can tackle the war and a sagging economy and come out winning. It almost looks like the winner of this election is doomed in the next.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 3:06 pm and is filed under Election '08, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.