The new McCain is . . . Hillary?

by James Oliphant

This is the reboot?

As he has tumbled in the polls, John McCain and his campaign have been looking for a way to jump-start his presidential bid. As noted below, new polls show that McCain's scorched-earth approach last week attacking Barack Obama's character and judgment left him in worse shape than before.

As a result, the Republican has apparently turned to a new source of inspiration: Hillary Clinton.

It appears he has decided to take a page out of Clinton's late-game approach in the Democratic primaries, when, she, too, ultimately made the decision that attacking Obama was doing her more harm than good. In the spring, Clinton decided to chase swing-state, working-class votes by reinventing herself into a shot-and-beer woman-of-the-people, a "fighter" for America.

McCain seems to have locked in on that. In speech in Virginia Monday, McCain repeatedly invoked the image of boxing his way back to the top.

"I will fight to take America in a new direction from my first day in office until my last. I'm not afraid of the fight, I'm ready for it," McCain said at a rally in Virginia Beach.

He said he would "fight for a new direction for our country" and "fight for what's right for America."

Here's what Clinton told a crowd last May in Indiana:

"We need a president who's a fighter again," Clinton said at a rally on Thursday, adding that the next president must understand what it is like to "get knocked down and get back up. That's the story of America, right?"

Well, McCain could do worse. If you'll remember, Clinton's newfound embrace of the pugilistic arts helped her swamp Obama in a states like Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

I don't suppose Clinton or anyone else has bothered to trademark "fighter?" It's not like super-heroes, I guess. If someone calls himself "Daredevil" or "The Flash" then every other hero has to back off.

And somehow, some way, it always has to come back to the Clintons, doesn't it?