by Michael Isaacson

Created on: June 14, 2008

In WHICH way should McCain separate himself from Bush? I think the answer is intimately tied to Republicans' other difficult question: "Where did Bush go wrong?"
Somebody would have hated President George W. Bush for invading Iraq under any circumstances. Some hated him for "stealing" an election. One person, or two perhaps, have hated him for simply being a Republican. None of this explains his record-low popularity.

The real reason nobody likes George W. Bush isn't that he started a war. The tactical failures of Iraq only stand in people's minds as the natural thing to glom on to; an avenue to express a gut feeling that hasn't been named and isn't easily articulated. The real reason those who hate him have succeeded in convincing us that he is a bad President has to do with shopping.
Bear with me.
When Patrick Henry stood in the House of Burgesses and said, "Give me liberty or give me Death!" it is reported that the colonialists jumped to their feet and shouted "To arms! To arms!"
When Nathan Hale stood before the British hangmen on September 22, 1776 and said, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country," he echoed a noble principle and began a noble tradition. His countrymen would later think of these words as they fought in our theaters of war over two centuries.
These men taught us that to live idly under tyranny is no life worth having, that to subjugate yourself to another's capricious whim is no life worth saving, and that to lay your life down only makes your life worth keeping. Their words were not included in the Declaration of Independence, but most Americans hold them as self-evident as any spoken by the Founding Fathers.
America is a conflicted country right now, and it goes deeper than red vs. blue or white vs. black. What we face is an identity crisis and more: we see who we have become and don't want to believe it.
In the aftermath of 9/11/01, America and most of the free world looked to our President and said, in effect, "Our hearts are with you, what should we do?"
"Stimulate the economy," came the limp reply. "Go shopping. Don't let the terrorists keep us from living." (The full quote is, "We cannot let the terrorists achieve the objective of frightening our nation to the point where we don't conduct business or people don't shop.")
But Mr. President, our lives are not in our pocketbooks and our hearts are not with our money first, despite our wealth. We follow these things because we have not been summoned to something great yet.

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