Will McClain's good lines during the debate be good enough to be a lifeline for his campaign? Did he pull in undecided independents with his mantra of "look, I know how to lead"? One of his best lines was obvious: we now know he isn't George Bush. But who is John McClain?
At Dave's Seafood, a popular local eatery in downtown Charleston on Morris Street that serves up some of the city's best fried chicken and shrimp, business was slower than usual and the few diners and the staff listened to the debate. Dave's sits in a changing neighborhood. The surrounding townhouses are recent construction and were built as is housing for college students. Tahe average selling price? Half a million dollars. Three bedrooms and three stories, their design is vertical with small balconies and roof top porches for barbequing and beer. In fact, the houses are closer to the bars than they are to the classrooms.
For the last three weekends, a voter registration drive operated on the sidewalk in front of Dave's, urging students and neighborhoods and customers to register. "All politics is local," as another political mantra, and the national scene had come to Dave's corner, a nightly crossroads for workers on second shift, adults and families, students, and regulars for whom the red rice, cabbage, and limas are a staple. Terry, the cook and co-owner, (a Morehouse grad) will tell you that the price of chicken is up-but that always happens when college football season begins. The macro-economic problems, important as they are, seem to have little effect on Dave's, or his customers' pocketbooks. And perhaps that's the point of McCain's insistence on economic policies that are framed in re-worked trickle-down economics. It simply doesn't lift wages, it doesn't create jobs, it doesn't cut prices, it doesn't expand retirement savings, it doesn't help market and capital recovery, it doesn't restore global liquidity. On things that matter to people, these policies have no virtual effect. Well, housing sales have slowed down.
Dave's customers pay attention to the details and ask for fries and fish to be fried crispy, or request extra tartar sauce, or slather on Texas Pete. They know that the small things make a difference. But McCain's references seem to invoke the era of the Waldorf salad (actually, an oldie but goodie!)-- Herbert Hoover actually came up in this third 2008 debate!
And despite McCain's hurt feelings about the comments of Congressman John Lewis, the son of Alabama share croppers, who still suffers permanent damage form injuries he suffered from beatings inflicted by howling, violent mobs who pulled and dragged him off a Greyhound bus when he was a freedom rider--simply exercising the right to be seated anywhere without regards to race--beat and kicked his head and body so that he still carries in Congress the marks and physical damage of those senseless, savage beatings, those of us at Dave's thought that Congressman Lewis was right to put McCain on notice about his and running mate's inflammatory rhetoric. McCain's protest and demand for an apology sounded like a school kid caught passing a lick who loudly blamed the hit kid as the one who started it.
But the final word from Dave's Wednesday night was the wonderful taste of the okra soup! Consistent, comfortable, satisfying taste, positive results. McCain's words, or his proposal for policies, or his references to Herbert Hoover or John Lewis-or William Ayers-just didn't have the same effect.
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