Mike Gerson has an intelligent take in the Post this morning:
McCain needs to announce new and unexpected reform proposals. Perhaps he should courageously follow the logic of his health plan and promise health coverage as a universal right guaranteed by subsidies for the purchase of private health insurance. Perhaps he should embrace the goal of getting all American electricity from renewable and non-carbon sources by some ambitious but realistic date. Perhaps he should offer guaranteed funding of higher education in exchange for national service. Perhaps he should announce specific plans for the closing of Guantanamo, new ideas for winning hearts and minds in the developing world, or reforms of the often-scandalous Pentagon procurement system. Perhaps he should propose some ethics reform that genuinely angers every one of his congressional colleagues.
Whatever the content of McCain's speech, there is one test of its success. Voters must be able to say: I have never heard that from a Republican before.
--Eve Fairbanks