I should be more bemused than I am that John McCain evoked the name “William Jennings Bryan”.  I suggest that it is odd enough that cannot possibly be politically calculated for electoral effect, such that his more recent reference to Jimmy Carter is — and is instead a sincere show of contempt toward Obama as a man who can electrify a crowed with speeches and is a movement unto himself.  Bryan, I’ve tended to think, missed the boat in his embrace of Bimetallism and would have done better for true Populist credentials to preach the cause of the Zinc Standard.  Some will suggest that Obama has embraced the “Oxygen Standard” — putting a premium on the worth of Hot Air.

Aside from losing three presidential elections — something Barack Obama simply is not going to be allowed to do– there are worse figures to be compared to than Bryan.  I have to feel sorry for whoever lost out to Bryan in the 1908 bid, shouting in their hotel room “AGAIN???”

Judging by his speaking performances, most notably the one done before Clinton’s non-concession speech and Obama’s “This is the moment we healed the Earth” speech, John McCain might be better served doing what William McKinley in 1896 did to battle Bryan’s Presidential campaign speaking tour.  McKinley did that whole “Front Porch” campaign, a lost campaign tactic last employed I believe by Calvin Coolidge.  Here, McKinley simply planted himself on his Front Porch in Ohio, and did not budge.  He issued telegraphs, and brought in delegations of voters to stage conversations on the days’ issues.  It was asymetrical campaigning that avoided direct competition with his opponent’s strength.  Of course, there was also the matter that McKinley outspent Bryan by a rather astronomical amount, as Big Industry filled the Republican Party coffers up something fierce.  Not quite anything McCain has going for him — K Street largely opts to back the one they think is going to win the thing.

McCain should just sit there in Arizona, perhaps plop out a keyboard and fix his lack of computer knowledge and start a blog.  He can explicate his “Carter’s Second Term” comment.  I would be curious to see if he can post something about any other politicians that Obama reminds him of, or maybe a tv character he remembers from a 1950s sitcom?

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