His task was made easier by his maverick image, something that his surrogates have cultivated assiduously, the more so this week because of the awkward political job before him. In his address to the Republican National Convention, McCain wrapped the whole package in a "Country First" theme drawn from his compelling personal narrative as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. That part, at least, was predictable.

We won't know for a couple of months whether the country bought this package. What we can say today is that John McCain did a respectable job of selling it.

It was telling that McCain paid tribute to President Bush in the introductory passages of the speech, then never mentioned him again. Earlier in the week, Hurricane Gustav had given the Republicans a plausible reason to keep both Bush and Vice President Cheney off the convention stage, and they grabbed it.

It turns out that all of this was a set-up to McCain portraying himself, and running mate Sarah Palin, as agents of change. In the most surprising passages of the speech, he said, "I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption. We lost their trust when rather than reform government, both parties made it bigger."

Elsewhere, McCain pledged to "stop leaving our country's problems for some unluckier generation to fix," a subtle dig at Bush's record budget deficits. He promised to set a new standard for transparency and accountability. McCain did not need to add that this would follow on the heels of an administration which set new standards for secrecy and deceit.

In one of the best-crafted passages of the speech, he explained, "I hate war," and he would use every tool - diplomatic, economic, military and "the power of our ideals" - "to prevent other families from risking their loved ones in war as my family has." This from a candidate who supported the Iraq war from its outset, and argued from the beginning for more troops to win it.

Barack Obama has built his campaign on the power of a single word: Change. It appears that John McCain intends to contest this election on that very ground.