CE Week #9: “McCain Is Back”
By Joe Klein
There is only one American politician who sounds like this: “With my usual suicidal, masochistic tendencies, I spoke at the Detroit Economic Club last week and supported increased fuel-efficiency standards.” Yes, yes, it’s John McCain, rising from the crypt, but not as a zombie. The foolishly conventional Republican McCain of last year was the zombie. No, this is the funny, free-range McCain reincarnated, the independent who dares speak to an environmental forum in New Hampshire, touting his green credentials, actually supporting a return to the Kyoto global-warming negotiations, which is anathema to most Republicans. That guy–the interesting one–is back.
I am not suggesting that John McCain is a plausible front runner for the Republican nomination. Republicans tend not to like people like McCain: too wild, too willing to work with Senators like Ted Kennedy (gasp!) and Russ Feingold (gulp!) on legislation. Then again, what are the options? There is no plausible front runner. Each of the Republicans is flawed and flailing. The despair and hilarity as the various candidates try to squeeze into the conservative base’s straitjacket, like the stepsisters struggling to fit into Cinderella’s slipper, have been the gaudiest political show of 2007.
To review the bidding on the leading candidates: Rudy Giuliani, the national front runner in the polls, supports abortion rights, supported gun control, supported Democrat Mario Cuomo for Governor, moved in with a gay couple when his second marriage fell apart–and, pause for breath, well, isn’t that enough? Mitt Romney, the front runner in Iowa and New Hampshire, was a liberal when he ran for the Senate from Massachusetts and a moderate when he ran for Governor. He has disavowed his former positions on abortion, gay marriage–and now seems even to disavow the groundbreaking state health-care plan he passed. Asked in a recent debate if he’d seek congressional authorization to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities, he responded, “Well, you sit down with your attorneys …” For a Republican, that’s something like a Democrat saying, “Well, maybe we should overturn Roe v. Wade and turn abortion over to the states.” Also, he is a Mormon, which many religious conservatives consider a cult. Fred Thompson seems to be performing a quarter-hearted presidential-campaign drop-by, living proof that not all actors can play charming. He’s another divorcé, and was once, among other things, a lobbyist for the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association.
Given the embarrassing contortions being performed by the three leading candidates, John McCain almost seems comfortable in his apostasy. His attempt to run bland in 2008, an echo of the 2000 edition of George W. Bush, cratered ignominiously. It was, in part, attributable to McCain’s executive ineptitude; when it came to spending, his consultants were as prudent as the pork-peddling legislators he likes to deride. But there was a substantive reason for his failure: his support for a comprehensive immigration bill–the one he co-sponsored with Ted Kennedy–that would provide a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million immigrants here illegally. “I got the message,” he told a town meeting in Hopkinton, N.H. “Americans want the border secure. I will secure it.” Which seemed to satisfy most of the audience.
A day earlier, McCain had been confronted by a woman who upbraided him for not being a “real” Republican because of his dealings with Kennedy and Feingold. “I reminded her about Ronald Reagan standing in the Rose Garden with Tip O’Neill, a liberal Democrat, pledging to fix Social Security,” McCain told me later, with some satisfaction. “Even a real Republican needs to work with Democrats if you’re going to tackle things like Social Security.” McCain remains the rare Republican candidate who has attempted bipartisanship in Washington. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t stone conservative on most things. He has always been pro-life; he is relentlessly antitax. His brimstone bellicosity about the war in Iraq is unmatched by any of his fellow candidates and unwarranted by reality. McCain’s use of words like victory and surrender indicates a stubborn unwillingness to acknowledge the complexities of the Mesopotamian quagmire.
He is not a likely nominee because many Republicans, of all stripes, tend to believe he “ran against the party” in 2000, as a prominent Republican told me. Indeed, McCain won the New Hampshire and Michigan contests with the help of Democrats and Independents who crossed over to support him. Those votes won’t be so available this time. But it is wonderful to have McCain, the old suicidal, masochistic McCain, back roiling the waters.
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I think that for the most part this election year is just going to make me laugh. The fact that McCain is now “the funny, free-range McCain reincarnated, the independent who dares speak to an environmental forum in New Hampshire,” made me think about how the Republicans seem to be realizing how impossible it will be for a true “republican” to win the office of the President. The mere fact that most of the Republican front-runners are fairly independent and nearing liberal, in the case of Giuliani, just goes to show how badly Bush has made all hope for a conservative President to be elected in 2008 nearly impossible. Although McCain still tries to play it off by saying “Even a real Republican needs to work with Democrats if you’re going to tackle things like Social Security.” I really just think that most of the Republicans are trying to persuade more liberal “independents” to look to the conservatives with their ideas instead of just the democrats. I think the fact that this article continues just to focus on how crazy McCain is also makes me laugh when I think about all the different ways he has tried to win votes in the past, like in 2000 when he got a lot of help from democrats and independents in the NH and MI contests.
I think that this Presidential election is definitely going to be one for the books. And not simply for the most obvious reasons (like first woman, first black man, etc.) So far, the campaign trail has been incredibly entertaining to everyone and for all reasons. Except, of course, to the conservative Republicans. The Republican race has no clear front-runner, and the three leading GOP candidates can not seem to ditch the “unwanted” limelight. Giuliani, Romney, and Thompson each have their own obstacles to overcome in the race for the Republican nomination, such as ethical and religious issues. And in addition, the true conservative Republicans have thus far failed to bring a true Republican (or more appropriately, “Bush conservative”) into the position of really contending for the GOP nomination. Because McCain has bounced back as “the funny, free-range McCain reincarnated, the independent who dares speak to an environmental forum in New Hampshire,” maybe the Republican party is finally learning that, like John said, that it seems virtually impossible that a “true Republican” will get elected. Perhaps this is due to the last administration’s “success.” Personally, I don’t think McCain has what it takes to get the nomination. His intentions seem good in some aspects, and he was a POW (thus gaining serious respect from many people); however, I feel that he is too far “off” the… well, just “off.” His past political record (a scandal and working with the charismatic Ted Kennedy) also seems to hinder his political aspirations (at least for the Presidency).
I agree with John that due to President Bush’s very poor approval rating and support these days that it is going to be very hard for a true Republican to win. This is why the republican candidates seem to lean more to the left then the candidates in the previous years. However, that does not necessarily mean that the Republican Party does not have a chance to maintain the White House. I also agree with John when he stated that the Republican candidates are just trying to persuade democratic voters as well as independent voters. However, it is not just the Republican Party doing so. This is because in order to win the election, candidates try to appeal to the masses and take votes away from the other party. So to make it seam as though Republican candidates are only focused on trying to take the votes of the Democratic Party is not right I believe. One thing for sure however, that the Republican Party will be fighting an upward battle in order to win the up and coming election.
McCain is really a bizarre guy, but that’s why I like him I guess. He’s a charismatic speaker, and he’s had a lot of impact on the political world, but I just wish he’d stop listening to what people tell him to do all the time. McCain has a lot of great ideas, and I think at heart he’s a very independent thinker, but rather then not being willing to compromise with others, I think he compromises too much. When he takes a firm stance against something, he has a tendency to yield to the base and “fall in” with everyone else. He’s just not going to win the presidency until he learns to man up and take a stand, not only against people with opposing viewpoints, but against people giving him advice who maybe shouldn’t be giving him advice, (See: McCain’s Financial Advisor)
McCain is a forward thinker. We need those. We don’t have many of those, and those we do have just aren’t that congenial. Speaking of congenial, I’ve always wondered what McCain was going to do about that unfortunate chicken neck. I don’t think it’s hurting him in the polls, but it’s hurting me to look at.