Normally I’m all for politicians doing nothing. That seems to be when they are most efficient, or rather, least inefficient. However …

In a recent post, Dick Morris highlights an opportunity for McCain to refute Obama’s recent shift to the center. Not a lot of news there unless you’d be surprised to learn that Obama may not really be the objective centrist that he’s been trying to portray since Hillary threw in the towel.

This quote from the piece highlights my frustration, actually one of many frustrations with McCain:

How McCain responds and whether or not he does, will have a big impact …

Exactly. While Obama is busy shifting gears for the general election and monopolizing media attention, McCain is continuing along the course that guided him to the Republican nomination.

Unfortunately he has failed to grasp or maybe refused to acknowledge another shift that any seasoned politician should have seen coming. Back in spring the media ate up his “bigger man” act with a spoon. Not because they liked that approach but because they liked McCain. As Republicans go he’ll always be a media favorite because he’s not much of one.

Those days are over and the media is solidly in Obama’s camp. There will be no more kudos for quietly rising above the fray. If McCain doesn’t attack and point out Obama’s duplicity, NO ONE WILL!

OK, sure, the conservative talk personalities will be on the story, but their audience is already resigned to hold their noses and vote McCain in November. While we’re on that, sending Huckabee out as a surrogate is no help either. I realize he’s McCain’s buddy and the man who helped build this idea that being the campaign’s “nice guy” is a sound strategy, but he doesn’t reach any part of the electorate that is up for grabs.

It shouldn’t be lost on us that to date, the only opponent McCain has been willing to vigorously attack was Mitt Romney. Is it because Romney was willing to attack him, or because McCain felt threatened by the presence of a real Republican in the race. If he’s waiting for Obama to attack it will never happen. Obama is in the lead. As long as McCain sits back and doesn’t play defense (and it’s not like he’s playing offense either) Obama can continue to score at will with positions all over the map to please a broad range of constituencies.

Sadly, it won’t be enough for this reality to sink in. If at some point McCain does wake up from his nap and take Obama to task, it’s not is if he’s a terribly effective communicator. Especially next to Obama.

I’m beginning to think that we conservatives are destined to sit on the back porch with McCain for the next several months and watch this whole thing pass us by.