‘At 72, the snow-topped senator knows this is his last try. The first sign that his temperament may be “erratic” – as Mr Obama now puts it – was when he cancelled the first night of the National Republican Convention up north in Minnesota for fear of a hurricane down south. Some thought McCain needed a reason to keep President Bush (who was scheduled to speak) from showing up at the party. But this sort of thing is just not done – it’s never happened before. Unpredictable Then, when McCain suspended his campaign during the financial crisis and headed for the halls of Congress, his move shocked observers on both sides of the party aisle. He ran the risk of missing the first debate, an odd form of political suicide. In Oxford, his dark side showed up. Obama, he insisted over and over, does not understand Iraq, Army General David Petraeus and the like. In fact, McCain has curiously made the “surge” general a personal issue: either you accept his word as gospel and ask to meet him or you don’t understand war and peace in the Middle East. (That kind of public deference to a commander, by the way, is counter to the American civil-military code, and points to something deep in McCain’s way of seeing the world.) Casting the unschooled Governor Sarah Palin in an understudy role was McCain’s most spectacularly unpredictable decision. Impetuous? You betcha, the woman from Wasilla might say in her downhome way. The larger picture is that a sobered-up American public wants to look and …
