Who in god's name convinced John McCain to organize last night's speech around the theme of "hope," and then end it this way?          "And my friends, I promise you, I am fired up and ready to go."        I respect the guy, in a wary way, and I was looking forward to a decent general election campaign.  The policy differences with McCain will be visible without Paul Krugman and a microscope.       But if McCain's campaign strategy is to become Barack, and then "dig what we all say" with a lot of air quotes, this thing is just going to be too sad to watch.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it's godawful embarrassing politics.  I know Barack has the energy and the new ideas -- but for jeez sakes, John, don't concede that at the start of the game.  You'll spoil the whole thing.