How McCain can be the best conservative candidate

John McCain is being hammered from all sides: from Democrats, of course; from conservatives who do not believe that he is right-wing enough; from independents who are dazzled by Obama. Given these problems, it is not easy to see how he can win the next election. However, there are some ways and that is by showing how he is already a good conservative (which he is):

McCain is a Reagan Republican:

• He has stood for a strong defense by not making any knee-jerk promises to leave Iraq. (Given that the surge is working, how do the Democrats make this argument now?)
• He stands for small government: allow market forces to take over, even in contentious cases like Global Warming. Market forces, like democracies, are slow but when they act, they are sure. Let GM (or Toyota) decide whether or not whether they want to make more fuel-efficient cars but if they do not, some smart entrepreneur will build something better, faster and cheaper. Let us not be hypocrites, however: market forces may also cause that entrepreneur to be from China or India. We cannot whine then but we can rely on our superior financial system to buy the technologies once they mature.
• He stands for individual freedom, as long as it does not infringe on the rights of others.

The Republican leadership has changed, however, and McCain needs to almost disavow its current philosophy, which is the real challenge:

• We need to stay in Iraq, not because it was right to go there (it was NOT) but because we need to clean up our mess. McCain's surrogates need to make this crystal clear.
• We cannot reject Global Warming as a pseudo-science because Exxon-Mobil doesn't like it. That's just corporate interests bullying their way in to demand corporate welfare. We ask Exxon to fight in the markets like everyone else.
• We cannot allow anti-Latino hate to spread through the immigration debate. Remember: Reagan did not just encourage immigration, he gave a full-scale amnesty. By alienating Hispanic-Americans, we can say good-bye to winning power for the next 20 years. Hate has no place in America and McCain is the best conservative to communicate it.

What does this all mean?

McCain, standing on his own as a true conservative, constructionist Republican, is easily the best Presidential individual candidate in sight. McCain, pulled down by the Bush-Cheney Republicans, will never get to be the leader of the Republican party. Barack Obama has consolidated his leadership of the Democratic party in six short months with barely 50.1% of the delegate vote (so far). It will be a shame if McCain cannot get there with a three-month headstart, he does not deserve the Presidency.