This morning I read someone comment that Mr. McCain’s real “change” message is “same policies, but competently executed.”

But the choice of Mrs. Palin presents a problem. It says “same policies, same incompetent execution.”

Reform was never really in the picture. Mr. McCain’s idea of reform is essentially to do the same thing, but do it well. There’s no real acknowledgement that the policies themselves were ever at fault. So there’s no reason to think the actual policies themselves will change.

Maverick, indeed.