Question of the Day: What Happened to John McCain?

I'll be the first to admit this isn't a fair picture, but I am not so sure McCain deserves anything resembling fair. I loved this guy in 2000. In fact, I remember dreaming about a McCain vs. Bill Bradley presidential match up. Both obvious outsiders of their respective political parties; both with fresh sounding ideas; and both with a little counter-establishment vibe. Bush destroyed McCain in South Carolina during the primaries, relying on a strategy of questioning his military record (sound familiar?). A man who had spent something like 4 years in a POW camp in Vietnam was being questioned by a guy who signed up for the National Guard, yet according to records was rarely in attendance (and, remember, Dick Cheney avoided it by being an aide to Nixon). Considering these facts you would think McCain would have been embarrassed to be in the same party with someone who low-balled him so badly and unfairly. But, he stayed. Fine; he had done bipartisan before.

Fast forward to now. McCain was for cutting medicare in the past, then the health bill appeared and was going to trim medicare and he was suddenly against touching it. He acted near at the end of the election as if he was ready to embrace a position of power: Obama clearly saw him as a worthy ally and opponent, someone who Obama could reach out to from the other side, while cementing McCain's bipartisan legacy. Instead, we have Mitch McConnell (Sen from Kentucky-R) defending McCain on the floor of the Senate, despite some serious past animosities. I feel bad, sort of. McCain could not be Bob Dole and fade away from political life and briefly revive his career by doing some Super Bowl Viagra ads; nor could be be Al Gore and go to Harvard for a year to teach, grow a beard, and then make an award winning documentary; nor could he be Ross Perot and just return to his Texas mansion. He stayed like Kerry. Kerry was weak to begin with, so he is just as much a non-entity as he was before he won the democratic nod four years ago.

Where did the 2000 McCain go? In some ways, he reminds me of a baseball player. We talk about players' individual seasons like fine wines. Guys may have peaks over multiple seasons, or be consistent throughout their careers, or even have multiple peaks over a career. But, the greatest players have individually great seasons (the super-duper stars have more than one of these). Barry Bonds' 2001-4 seasons (yes, everyone) were transcendent. Or, Pedro Martinez 1999 season. You get the point. Now, those two players had so many great seasons, and their careers will eventually be etched in bronze at Cooperstown, they do not provide good analogy. Because McCain was a middling infielder who showed bursts of occasional power at the plate, but was always a bust. Then, it all came together...all five tools were on display in 2000, until Bush beat him out for the MVP trophy. The following eight years were filled with random highlights reminding us of the brilliance his 1999-2000 season produced, but never again approached greatness; as if he injured himself and never regained confidence. Now, he relies of steroids to even play at a replacement-player MLB level...McCain, what happened?