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If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, John McCain, may want to reconsider who he imitates. Here is an excerpt of the text from today’s McCain announcement for president:

“We must also prepare, far better than we have, to respond quickly and effectively to another terrorist attack or natural calamity. When Americans confront a catastrophe, natural or man-made, they have a right to expect basic competence from their government. They won’t accept that firemen and policemen are unable to communicate with each other in an emergency because they don’t have the same radio frequency. They won’t accept government’s failure to deliver bottled water to dehydrated babies or rescue the infirm from a hospital with no electricity. They won’t accept substandard care and indifference for wounded veterans.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

“Government spends more money today than ever before. Wasteful spending on things that are not the business of government indebts us to other nations; deprives you of the fruits of your labor; fuels inflation; raises interest rates; and encourages irresponsibility.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

“No government program is the object of more political posturing than Social Security and Medicare. Here’s the plain truth: there are too few workers supporting too many retirees, and if we don’t make some tough choices today, Social Security and Medicare will go bankrupt or we’ll have to raise taxes so drastically we’ll crush the prosperity of average Americans. Too many politicians want to ignore the problem, and run for re-election by threatening anyone who wants to fix it.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

“Our tax code is used to game the system for some at the expense of the many instead of encouraging the thrift, investment, innovation and industry of all Americans. It’s complexity and waste costs Americans $140 billion in preparation and compliance costs each year.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

“Our dependence on foreign sources of energy not only harms our environment and economy, it endangers our security. So much of the oil we import comes from countries in volatile regions of the world where our values aren’t shared and our interests aren’t a priority.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

“We’re not a country that prefers nostalgia to optimism. We’re not a country that would rather go back than forward. We’re the world’s leader, and leaders don’t pine for the past and dread the future. We make the future better than the past. Opening new markets to American goods and services is indispensable to our future prosperity. Lowering trade barriers creates more and better jobs; keeps inflation under control; keeps interest rates low; and makes more goods affordable to more Americans. We won’t compete successfully by using old technology to produce old goods. We’ll succeed by knowing what to produce and inventing new technologies to produce it.

“But open markets don’t automatically translate into a better quality of life for every American. While most gain, some are forced to struggle with very difficult choices. Right now we have a half dozen programs to help displaced workers and another half dozen for people who aren’t working at all. We have an unemployment insurance program that’s right out of the 1950s, designed to assist workers through a few tough months during an economic downturn.

“That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.

Now here’s an excerpt from 1972 Democratic presidential candidate Edmund Muskie’s announcement speech:

For a generation, what we have done has not been good enough.

It is not good enough to pile arms upon arms — increasing daily in complexity, killpower, and cost — arms which do not buy security.

It is not good enough to pile up concentrations of wealth and resources which do not touch the needs of hungry children, poor schools, inadequate housing, decaying cities, and insecure old age.

It is not good enough to produce a trillion dollars worth of goods and services each year, without adequate protection of the land, air, and water from which they come.

It is not good enough to pay ever heavier taxes which do not buy decent public services . . . which bear too heavily on those least able to pay . . . and which permit too many to escape their fair share of the burden.

It is not good enough when health care is beyond the reach of the sick because they are poor or old . . . because they live in ghettos or remote rural areas.

It is not good enough when so much productive work must be done, to see so many unskilled hands untrained, so many skilled hands idle, and so many farmers unable to earn a decent living from their land.

It is not good enough that so many of our children cannot break out of the cycle of poverty, or are subject to the temptations of drugs and crime, or are turned off by the misplaced values of our society.

It is not good enough that our freedom to move about freely without fear — to enjoy our surroundings and make new friends — has been narrowed and constricted by the need to protect ourselves from crime.

It is not good enough — indeed it is indefensible — that people are still dying, at our hands, in a war that is wrong . . . a war most Americans rejected long ago.

For those of you unfamiliar with Muskie he cried, crashed and burned early on in the primary process.

It’s not good enough to imitate a loser… Whoops!  Maybe it’s time for some new management on the McCain bus.