So I guess we can really ask this question now:

What would John McCain do? If we could turn back time and elect McCain, speculate on what he would have done differently, and if we would be better off or not.

No clue. The only thing I can see that he would have done differently up to this point, is submitted a budget that's a lot smaller.

I would hope he would have done something to try and reduce the budget deficit, and not expand it, but who knows.

The better question, is WWRPD (What Would Ron Paul DO?)

I honestly doubt he would have done too much differently. Relatively little of what Obama has done is really purely liberal. I mean, the spend-crazy stimulus and the bailouts were more or less necessary. McCain might've had it smaller (perhaps significantly so), but TARP would still exist. Something had to be done about Guantanamo, and McCain probably would have done the same thing: close the prison and continue military tribunals to process the people sitting in the legal grey area

McCain would definitely have handled the torture thing differently, as well as the restoration of money to stem-cell research (obviously).