McCain continues to show that he is out of touch with American voters

WASHINGTON — The good news for Republicans is that they have a big head start in the Fiesta of Forced Smiles — the post-primary, preconvention phase of the presidential campaign in which former opponents and party elders pledge their support for the presumptive nominee in a photogenic show of unity.

The bad news is that the likely nominee, John McCain, intends to run on positions that most voters reject.

This inconvenient fact was evident Monday in George H. W. Bush's gracious endorsement speech. The former president called McCain a worthy standard-bearer for the party's "conservative values" — never mind that the elder Bush's credentials as a true "movement" conservative were often questioned — and he gently suggested it was time for Mike Huckabee, who technically remains in the race, to wake up and smell the coffee.

I say that Huckabee is only technically a candidate because jetting off to the Cayman Islands to give a paid speech is not generally considered the best way to win the Wisconsin primary. This is an odd political year, but not that odd.

Poppy Bush's announcement of support for McCain at least seemed heartfelt — as opposed to Mitt Romney's backing for his bitter rival, which was dutiful and correct. Are Republicans supposed to forget the startlingly un-Republican way the two men snarled at each other throughout the primary contests? Romney, you will recall, accused McCain of supporting higher taxes and "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants; McCain painted Romney as a chameleon who had "changed positions on literally every major issue."

In his endorsement, Romney said that "in the thick of a fight, it's easy to lose sight of your opponent's finer qualities." That translates roughly as: "I'm smiling through gritted teeth and doing what I have to do, because I want to be the Republican nominee next time around."

President Bush, whose errors and failures cast a pall over McCain's presidential bid, was much more genuine in offering support for a man with whom he has clashed repeatedly in the past. For the president, obviously, political ambition is moot. More than party unity is at stake: McCain is the last candidate standing who shares the Decider's vision of the Iraq war as an open-ended struggle, still requiring a massive deployment of American military forces that would eventually lead to some sort of meaningful strategic "victory" for the United States.