this testy exchange between john mccaine and arianna huffington is pretty telling, especially at the end. as huffington notes, it's unlikely that mccain's straight-talk reputation will survive all the public appearances of the campaign trail in this era of cell phones and youtube.
when i was growing up my mother used to tell me her theory that a lot of "great presidents" in the past would be unelectable today. george washington's wooden teeth and abraham lincoln's intellectualism would not play well on the TV. her theory seemed to be borne out by telegenic presidents like ronald reagan and bill clinton.
i wonder if amateur video and the internet will mean that an even different set of qualities will emerge as critical for future presidents. journalists have mentioned mccain's temper for a while, but the senator has done a pretty good job of keeping it off the TV screen and maintaining his image as a pleasant straightforward guy. but now it's getting harder to keep the unscripted moments out of the spotlight. and that will be especially true during the early "retail politics" phase of the primary season.
once i thought that mccain had a pretty good chance of becoming president some day. i don't think so anymore. it's not just that bush's presidency has made the hawkish conservative less popular with the general public (though that is part of it). i think the positive public persona he has crafted for himself cannot survive the modern landscape of the mass media.
