What do Mothers' Day and global warming have in common? Both, as it turns out, are essential ingredients in John McCain's "character" campaign for the White House. That is, given the staggering unpopularity of his party's platform and president, John McCain is now running away from both. From here on out, the McCain campaign will be about the character of the man.
And on Mothers' Day this Sunday, that includes a portrait of John McCain as the good son. Appearing in a Hallmark-style TV spot with his 96 year old mother Roberta, McCain will offer Americans a supposedly humanizing moment for the supposed "maverick." (There's another ancillary benefit: the lightheartedly saccharine piece will also provide the one opportunity for McCain to be filmed with someone older than himself.)
After proving the dutiful son, John McCain will continue his post-nomination run to the center with what the campaign is billing as a "global warming tour." Designed to create space between McCain and George W. Bush by highlighting the one substantive issue where they differ, the series of events is design to entrench the media mythical image of McCain the Maverick unafraid to buck his GOP and its current occupant of the White House.
As I've suggested previously, McCain's attempt to convert the 2008 race into a contest of character between himself and Democrat Barack Obama is critical to Republican hopes of retaining the White House. If the GOP has its way, McCain the war hero and Republican renegade will be pitted against the out-of touch, Jeremiah Wright-loving, lapel pin-avoiding, effete anti-American elitist Barack Obama. Given Americans' overwhelming preference for Democratic positions and priorities, the GOP simply cannot win a 2008 election decided on the issues.
And that's just the beginning of the problems for McCain and his Republican allies. Having adopted virtually the entire Bush agenda, John McCain must separate himself from the President if he's going to win this fall. A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed that 43% of Americans think John McCain is too closely aligned with President Bush. (As MSNBC's Chuck Todd noted, that makes George W. Bush - and not Jeremiah Wright - "the biggest political albatross heading into November.") Given that over 70% of Americans disapprove of President Bush and more than 80% believe the country is on the wrong track, it's no wonder Karl Rove, Lindsey Graham and the coordinated efforts of the McCain campaign and the White House are trying mightily to create the facade of distance between George W. Bush and his would-be successor.
So far, the McCain campaign is enjoying mixed results. A recent Rasmussen survey showed that Americans trust John McCain more than either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, even on issues like the economy where the candidate himself has professed his ignorance and voters violently disagree with him. But a subsequent poll released last week revealed that Americans by a 52% to 36% margin believe a presidential candidate's policy positions matter more than his or her character. (Unsurprisingly, Rasmussen found a sharp partisan divide on the question, with Republicans saying character counts most.)
Which is what the Mother's Day ad and the global warming tour are all about for the McCain campaign. Like John McCain's earlier "Biography Tour" and his so-called "Forgotten Places" events, Team McCain is trying to manufacture a kinder, gentler image of their candidate as a "different kind of Republican."
Of course,they have no choice. Because on the issues, John McCain is exactly the same kind of Republican as George W. Bush.
UPDATE: Echoing my language above, the Chicago Tribune describes how "McCain paints Obama's portrait." The Trib Swamp blog's take on McCain's upcoming character campaign?

"Day by day, week by week, McCain has been portraying Obama as inexperienced, self-entitled and effete, a candidate coddled by a loving press corps and lacking the judgment necessary for the highest office in the land."