Bush Lite

Sen. John McCain, having clinched the Republican presidential nomination hours earlier, paid a visit to the White House to receive the "full throated" endorsement and blessing of President George W. Bush. The visit points up the symbiotic relationship between these once intense rivals for presidency. McCain needs Bush to shore up support among party conservatives, especially the talk show faction of the Republican party. Bush, despite his abysmally low general popularity rating retains support among conservatives. And Bush needs McCain to validate and cement his legacy, primarily the war in Iraq and to a lesser extent the Bush tax cuts. Democrats will very likely frame McCain's presidential campaign as, in effect, Bush's attempt at a third term or, in the vernacular, Bush Lite.