Last night, Mike Huckabee appeared on Hannity & Colmes. I was occasionally critical of Huckabee during the primaries - okay, I was more like "very often" critical of Huckabee during the primary season - but his appearance on H&C was extremely impressive. The McCain campaign should be listening to this guy.
Huckabee provided the perfect plan for how McCain should have dealt with last week's Obama World Tour. McCain has positioned himself as the grumpy uncle alternative to Obama's irritating prodigy of a candidate. While the election will essentially boil down to Obama vs. Not Obama, it would behoove McCain to become more endearing.
And this is where Huckabee had a great idea. Rather than go 100% combative last week, the McCain campaign could have used some self-deprecating humor. It could have run a spot juxtaposing Obama swishing a three-pointer with McCain air-balling a lay-up and Obama basking in the adulation of hundreds of thousands of Germans with McCain making way for cleanup on aisle five. Then McCain could have said to the camera words to the effect of, "I may not be able to hit three-pointers or make the Germans love me, but while Barack Obama is out doing those things, I'm working every day to solve the problems of ordinary Americans." A brief spiel on gas prices and drilling would have amplified the spot's impact.
It's a brilliant idea, or at least it was. While the moment for such an ad may have passed, the McCain campaign should realize that it has an ally in Mike Huckabee who knows a thing or two about connecting with the voters. His skills in this critical area dwarf those of all his Republican contemporaries. If John McCain has a kitchen cabinet helping him run the campaign, Mike Huckabee should be in it.
