The maverick positions himself to court the moderates

John McCain embraced his mother, Roberta, at the end of his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. (paul sancya/Associated Press)

ST. PAUL - After thanking the Republican Party for a "privilege given few Americans - the privilege of accepting our party's nomination," John McCain proceeded to distance himself from it, serving notice that he plans to run for president as the same independent-minded maverick who often dogged President Bush and the old GOP-led Congress.

Though campaign aides had promised to create the feel of a town-hall meeting, the speech was traditional and often fell short of eloquence. The crowd, perhaps expecting a partisan call to arms like the one delivered by vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, seemed more excited to shout down an antiwar heckler than to second McCain's calls for change.

But the speech made clear that the choice of Palin, which delighted the party's conservative base, may have simply bought McCain the space to be himself.

"I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party," McCain said, repeating a line he used frequently in recent years. "We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us."

Later, he added, "We need to change the way government does almost everything: from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy . . ."

The functions of government, McCain added," were designed before the rise of the global economy, the information technology revolution, and the end of the Cold War. We need to catch up to history."

It was a shrewd formulation for a 72-year-old nominee, committing himself to the future, and will allow him to make a pitch for moderates who are distrustful of Democratic nominee Barack Obama but would like to see a big change from the Bush administration.

It remains unclear whether the Republican Party, whose delegates were notably silent during much of McCain's chastising, is truly along for the ride, though Palin's presence in the bumper seat certainly helps.

She ignited the party's demoralized social conservatives, and has the potential to be the most effective voice for "pro-life" policies in a generation.

McCain, however, barely mentioned social issues, preferring instead to speak of his desire to root out corruption and inappropriate spending.

These have been core McCain causes for more than a decade, and it is clear that they, along with a commitment to job retraining that McCain outlined in greater depth last night, will be his answer to Obama's more expansive - and potentially expensive - plans to transform healthcare, education, and other aspects of the economy.

McCain borrowed one of Obama's familiar tropes in naming average citizens for whom he will fight - though he offered no specific fixes for their economic woes beyond a passionate vow to change the ways of Washington.

"Let me just offer an advance warning to the old, big-spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second crowd: change is coming," McCain declared.

McCain's military career, and his courage in withstanding torture in a Vietnamese prison camp, was the defining metaphor for the entire convention, and he used it more powerfully in his speech last night than at any time before in his career. It was also the one aspect of McCain's performance that consistently wrung a passionate response from the GOP crowd.

Though he cast feckless bureaucrats and high-spending politicians among the enemies he plans to take on, the military metaphor seemed most clearly aimed at Iraq, where he intends to keep building on progress achieved by President Bush's troop surge.

A surge-to-victory will be the GOP answer to Obama's plans for a phased withdrawal. When McCain concluded his speech with a summons to "stand up, stand up, stand up and fight," he meant the call to apply broadly, but it seemed mainly to apply to Iraq.

Voters have consistently told pollsters they trust McCain on the issue, and may be behind him even more after hearing so much at the convention about his heroism. Like John F. Kerry four years ago, McCain is running a commander-in-chief campaign.

In 2004, Republicans derided the focus on Kerry's military career as proof that the Democrats lacked answers on key issues; this year, the issues have been trending against the Republicans, and so they've put their faith in McCain.

His speech last night lacked the perfect meeting of man and moment that marked the great acceptance addresses of the past; but for 2008, it positioned the Republicans about as close to the national mainstream as they could hope to be.

Peter S. Canellos is the Globe's Washington bureau chief.