Robert Buckland Weblog

The arrival of Senator John McCain at Conference on Sunday afternoon promised much. In the event, we were treated to a Fireside Chat, rather than a barnstormer from the bully pulpit. The Senator is a speaker more in the tradition of Alistair Cooke than Theodore Roosevelt. I have to confess that although I remain an admirer of the late Mr. Cooke, his Letters From America very often had the effect of sending me back to sleep of a Sunday morning in an era well before children.

Senator McCain did not have a soporific effect upon me, however, because this is a Republican more in the tradition of Barry Goldwater (a predecessor Senator from Arizona) than of George W. Bush. This is a man who is not enamoured of big government. His constant evocation of the Gipper himself, President Reagan, was meant to remind us of the small government tradition of Republicanism. Reagan’s own budget deficits were conveniently forgotten in this tour of the Republican horizon, however.

This is a man who has stood up against the Bush administration and in favour of the Rule of Law being applied universally, no matter what the issue or who the defendant. Although he has supported the War in Iraq, there is something altogether more restrained, more realistic and more worldly-wise than the wilder voices that lurk within the current Administration. This is a Republican who can reach out to the undecideds and who can swing an election much more convincingly than Mr. Bush junior.

Rash predictions about inevitable victory in ’08 will not be made on this blog. Let us await events, and the likely entry of Mr. Gore into the Democratic race, before predictions can be made.