Who's the Change Man Now?

Live by the fad, die by the fad. Preliminary numbers indicate more Americans tuned in to hear John McCain speak last night than did for Barack a week ago.

Across all broadcast networks Thursday, Sen. McCain’s speech ended the night with a 4.8 rating/7 share, compared to Sen. Obama’s 4.3/7 average, according to overnight numbers from metered households in 55 U.S. markets measured by Nielsen. These ratings are preliminary, however, and are subject to change.

Some might argue, of course, given his sluggish style of speaking from the teleprompter, that McCain might have been better off if the big audience had tuned in only for Sarah Palin the day before.

But the entry of Palin into the race has redefined it, taking much of the newness and luster from the Democratic ticket and moving it over to the GOP. As a result, the conventions end with ownership of the "Change" brand in dispute.

When Sen. John McCain introduced Sarah Palin as his running mate last week, he declared they would "beat the long odds to win a tough election on a message of reform and integrity." Alaska's governor promised they would take "our message of reform to every voter of every background." Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) pronounced McCain "a restless reformer," now with a running-mate "reformer" to boot.

While some complain the meaning of "change" as touted by McCain remains nebulous, that makes his change just like Barack's.

In McCain's attempt to fire up the Republican base without losing his "maverick" image, calls for reform have come to mean a pledge to "change" Washington -- with little explanation of what that change would be or how that change would take effect. "Let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do nothing, me first, country second Washington crowd," McCain warned last night. "Change is coming."

Barack proposes to fundamentally change the way Washington does business, ushering in a new era of bipartisanship, an end to the influence of special interests over policy, and conducting foreign policy in a more thoughtful manner.

Considering that Barack has no experience with any of these activities, it makes sense to assume that John McCain, who has shown leadership and had successes in each of these areas, is the more appropriate person to turn to in order to achieve change.