Yesterday I noted Sid Blumenthal's warning to Democrats not to overplay the "McSame" card. Today, Commentary's Jennifer Rubin reads Bob Novak and has a warning to McCain and the GOP:

Robert Novak spots two signals from the McCain camp: they will come out blazing about Barack Obama's odd associations(Bill Ayers specifically) and they aren't going to spend time on "health care mandates and home foreclosures." ...

McCain's hopes lie not replaying George H.W. Bush, who was dinged as oblivious to the recession (which in retrospect was mild) and bored with a domestic agenda, but in a reform-minded vision which offers some real alternatives to Barack Obama's standard-fare liberalism. While some might like to encourage his natural predilection to ignore domestic matters, it is one entreaty he should ignore.

McCain might have "no intention of fighting this battle on Democratic turf," as Novak writes, but that doesn't mean he can avoid it. With gas prices where they are and where they're going the economy -- and here we can include health-care, home foreclosures, etc. -- is going to trump the issues McCain is best at. And that's not because domestic issues are more important than national security. It's because with progress in Iraq moving the war off the front pages, public attention is focused on the "pain at the pump." Even McCain's warnings regarding Obama's Iran policy probably won't do much when gas is $6 (or more) a gallon.

Which is why Rubin encourages McCain to develop a "reform-minded vision" to counter Obama's "standard-fare liberalism," which, in the absence of any alternative, will be solution enough for many voters.