McCain appears to grab lead from Obama in latest Gallup Polls

While many astute independents and unaffiliated voters watching the RNC Convention last week might have puzzled at McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for VP, it quickly became clear that her selection was more than just a risky move. Instead, it was a clever tactical maneuver meant to turn around what was quickly becoming a losing battle in the public sphere for the Presidency. The campaign of Obama, along with his motto of change and a new vision of Washington politics, was resonating in the wider public.

But that was not the only political message resonating within the American public--or publics--as might be a more apt description after this week's two national party conventions. But what is especially important, and what the latest polls may start to show, is that the rhetoric of change (which both parties used in their respective speeches) is not a one-way discourse.

If there is one thing the American public is in agreement about at this point in history, it is the vague catch phrase "change." The real problem for both parties is that the changes envisioned and championed by each party are often diametrically opposed in their end visions. The issue is further complicated by an electorate who largely wants change, but not the change that either party is likely to deliver. So once the convention rhetoric is peeled back, and the confetti is swept up, voters are left with a difficult choice between two parties who claim to be at odds with each other, yet share most of the same structural problems (ie. political corruption, corporate cronyism, unrealistic domestic and international policy proposals) that all voters want fixed. So what exactly does a vote for change, be it Republican or Democrat, really mean?

The average Monique or Phillip is left with a conondrum? Common wisdom would seem to dictate that the Democratic Party is the party of "real" change, unless of course you consider the "liberal media" and "Eastern elites" to be part of the problem. The paradox, of course, is that the party of "fiscal conservatism" and "individual liberty" hasn't been so fiscal, and as of late, seems to have a thin sense of what counts as liberty.

But with all this in mind, the stakes are still fairly clear. The party of McCain and Palin is decidedly restrictive in many areas of social policy that would have large-scale public policy implications (abortion, health care, LGBT rights, environmental protection, tax reform), while the Democrats, while by no means "left" in the historical sense, are largely more progressive (meaning either staus quo or minor expansions) on most of these policy issues. A continued increase in Republican support and sympathy over the coming weeks will signal a precipitous move on the part of the US public towards an even more conservative, Evangelical Christian-aligned worldview laced with the images of 9/11, Iraq and the War on Terror. For supporters of Obama and the Democrats, the implications could not be more clear.

Whoever wins the battle of the spectacle in the coming two months is likely to not only sway public votes, but ultimately land control of the White House. If there ever was a time for strategic media manipulations, now is clearly the time, and the stakes could hardly be higher. If the polls continue to show increases for McCain and Palin over the next two weeks, the Democrats will have some serious soul searching to do about their message framing and how to connect with an American public moving slowly towards their opponents views.

For the latest poll results and visual breakdown by state, check out Real Clear Politics' voting spread here: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/maps/obama_vs_mccain/