March 25, 2008

John McCain: A Political Resurrection?

Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal-Pioneer:

John McCain, last year given up as politically dead, has made a surprising comeback this spring. Not only has he defeated his Republican rivals for the nomination of his party, but he is getting plenty of help from an unexpected source: Democrats.

The American finance company LendingTree runs a TV ad that says “When banks compete, you win.” Well, when identity politics dominate the Democratic primaries, perhaps old white men win.

A recent editorial cartoon in the Washington Post by Pulitzer Prize-winning illustrator Tom Toles depicts Hillary Clinton serving as an unpaid “volunteer” for McCain’s campaign. It’s not too far off the mark.

New York Times writer Frank Rich in his March 23 column remarked that Clinton is no longer trying to overcome Barack Obama’s lead “by making bold statements about Iraq or any other issue. Instead of enhancing her own case for the presidency, she’s going to tear him down.”

In the past few weeks, Clinton has stated that only she and McCain have the kind of foreign policy experience necessary to serve as commander-in-chief, while husband Bill has questioned Obama’s patriotism.

Clinton stated at a press conference in Washington on March 6 that only she and the Arizona senator have the credentials to be president. “Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign; I will bring a lifetime of experience; and Senator Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002,”she declared.

“I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,” she added. “I believe that I've done that. Certainly, Senator McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Senator Obama with respect to his candidacy.”

Among Clinton’s foreign policy accomplishments, apparently, were her visits to Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia while First Lady. She claims that she helped broker peace agreements there and gave comfort to refugees.

Her detractors have laughed this off as hyperbole. I’m inclined to agree: I’ve been teaching a course on power-sharing this term, and three chapters in our text deal with these very three entities. Her name, I’m afraid, appears nowhere in the book.

As for Bill Clinton, he called John McCain “an honorable man” and spoke of McCain’s friendship with his wife in a March 21 speech to voters in Charlotte, North Carolina. The state will hold its primary on May 6.

“It would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country,” added the former president. Obama’s camp in turn accused him of “McCarthyism.”

Never before has a Democratic presidential candidate suggested that his or her Democratic rival was less qualified to serve as president than a prospective Republican opponent.

So where is all this heading? An increasing number of Obama supporters say they will not vote for Clinton should she win the nomination, and vice versa.

Picture this scene as a metaphor: an older man opens his front door and sees, in the schoolyard across the street, two groups of unruly children fighting with each other, one gang composed mainly of girls, the other mainly of Black kids. The neighbours want him to do something to stop it.

See what I mean? That’s why, despite the war in Iraq and the recession, McCain might win in November.