OBAMA'S APPEAL TO HOPE vs McCAIN'S APPEAL TO RETRENCHMENT-- HOW DO THEY CROSS OVER?

Tweety says McCain will attract a great number of Democrats and independents. Not only is Tweety dead wrong, McCain will have a hard time attracting even Republicans voters. People are sick of the Republican brand. Bush and his collaborators have wrecked it... really wrecked it.

And I'm not only talking about McCain being scorned by neo-fascists like Coulter, Limbaugh, DeMint, Hannity and Santorum. Mainstream Republicans feel betrayed by the corruption, the extremism, the vicious partisanism, the lies, deceit, the incompetence and the venality. Time for something new. And for many Republicans-- as well as a gigantically increasing number of Democrats-- that means it's time for Barack Obama. In yesterday's Washington Post Peter Wehner, a former Assistant to George W. Bush, tackles the question about why so many Republicans are ready to give Obama a chance.

Barack Obama is not only popular among Democrats, he's also an appealing figure to many Republicans. Former GOP House member Joe Scarborough, now a host on MSNBC, reports that after every important Obama speech, he is inundated with e-mails praising the speech -- with most of them coming from Republicans. William Bennett, an influential conservative intellectual, has said favorable things about Obama. So have Rich Lowry of National Review and Peggy Noonan. And so have I.

...Part of it is the eloquence and uplift of his speeches, combined with his personal grace and dignity. By all accounts, Obama is a well-grounded, decent, thoughtful man. He comes across, in his person and manner, as nonpartisan. He has an unsurpassed ability to (seemingly) transcend politics. Even when he disagrees with people, he doesn't seem disagreeable. "You know what charm is," Albert Camus wrote in "The Fall," "a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question." Obama has such charm, and its appeal is not restricted to Democrats.

A second reason Republicans appreciate Obama is that he is pitted against a couple, the Clintons, whom many Republicans hold in contempt. Among the effects of the Obama-Clinton race is that it is forcing Democrats to come to grips with the mendacity and ruthlessness of the Clinton machine. Conservatives have long believed that the Clintons are an unprincipled pair who will destroy those who stand between them and power -- whether they are political opponents, women from Bill Clinton's past or independent counsels.

...A third reason for Obama's GOP appeal is that unlike Clinton and especially John Edwards, Obama has a message that, at its core, is about unity and hope rather than division and resentment. He stresses that "out of many we are one."

A few days ago, the media tried making a story out of Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsing McCain. It disappeared fast. But today his wife, Maria Schriver, spontaneously endorsed Obama and it really was a story. People are wondering why Gore and Edwards are taking so long. At this point it doesn't matter that much; and their supporters seem to be migrating to Obama anyway. Momentum for Obama is so huge that he has to be considered the favorite.