The President won't be here. Vice President
Cheney won't be here. There is talk of the convention being condensed to one or
two days. Certainly some of the gulf coast delegations won't all be able
to make it. And the 24/7 cable networks that are attracting record ratings with
their political coverage won't be shining their lenses on the Republicans
non-stop. Those networks will have to devote coverage to the natural
disaster that is threatening millions of people. The Republicans can not risk a
split-screen image of partying and balloon drops in St. Paul along with devastation from the
storm.
It
could be argued that the President not showing up will actually help the McCain/Palin
ticket. But what about the loss of exposure and coverage? Thirty-eight million
people watched Barack Obama's acceptance speech last week.
After
months, even years of planning, the Republicans are winging it. If they manage
to balance this correctly, they could in fact do what Senator McCain has been
struggling to do in this campaign -- distance himself from President Bush. The
measure of leadership lies in the handling of difficult times. A lot of
Americans will be looking at how John McCain and the Republicans handle
themselves over the next few days as a window into the kind of President he
might be.
