John McCain for President

I imagine that most, if not all, readers have made up their mind about this election. Still, I regret not making posts in the past, and I won't repeat that mistake here again. Call it a personal salve.

I don't have great expectations for this Tuesday. Obama has a solid lead, state polls aren't budging, and the economic difficulties are a boon to Democrats. My only hope is that the pollsters are wrong about who's going to vote.

I'll start with general observations about the election season. It was long. WAY TOO LONG. Seriously, this is year two of the 2008 presidential campaign. Second, it was the cleanest campaign I've ever seen. Each candidate's misrepresentations of the other were pedestrian and half-hearted. McCain's worst was the sex education ad. It was an ad I only saw on the news, despite living in Wisconsin and working in Ohio. Also, Obama did support sex ed for kindergarteners. Before you respond "but it was age appropriate", consider the large section of Americans, myself included, who don't think five year olds need any sex ed whatsoever. Can it wait until they learn to form the letter "s" properly?

On the other side, Obama's worst misrepresentation of McCain were the ubiquitous health care ads. Obama's campaign took their cue from the 1993 Harry and Louise ads, threatening people that McCain wanted to steal their health care. Standard misrepresentation. If you're offended by it, then politics isn't for you. The real shame about is McCain and Obama both have good health care ideas… if only they'd get together and discuss. Maybe in a series of ten town halls?

Why should I vote for McCain?

Since becoming a man, John McCain has been the Man in the Arena. Beyond fighting -- everyone knows his inspirational ability to survive -- he has never shied from controversy, never left uncomfortable issues to others. When immigration was the topic, he wrote a wise and humane bill with that lion of Senate, Ted Kennedy. The bill was humane because it refused to kick out the millions who made America their home for the same reason everyone's ancestors did - opportunity and hope. The bill was wise because it refused to tear out a massive chunk of our economy and community, while taking physical measures against future illegal immigration.

When torture was the topic, McCain led the senate against President Bush. Though McCain supports the war, he never assents to something he disagrees with in order to bolster the greater cause. He pushed the President to end torture. He was the first Senate Republican to call for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation. He was one of the first to see the failure in the war strategy, and strongest critic of a war that he supported. John McCain has the courage of his convictions. More important, he has the intellectual curiosity to question his own assumptions, and to forge new paths as soon as he thinks they're necessary. McCain stuck with his positions when the overwhelming majority of Americans were against them and staked his campaign on his belief that America could still win in Iraq. That's the personification of great leadership.

There's more, of course. McCain co-wrote a campaign finance reform bill with Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold. I disagree with the bill, but it addressed a real problem - the dominance of special interests in politics. I disagree with the bill because it was never a realistic goal. Yet at the very least, McCain tried to solve a serious problem. Barack Obama, in stark contrast, rejected public financing for the general campaign, reneging on a concrete pledge. We all know the result of that… or at least, everyone who watched Obama's infomercial before the World Series or lives in a swing state knows the result of that. This is certain - public financing of campaigns is dead. Obama, and Obama alone, killed it.

That Obama is willing to ignore promises at his convenient is no surprise. He is a politician, and has never shown any exceptional virtue or action. Machiavelli observed that a Prince never lacks for reasons to break his promises. In this case, Obama claimed it was independent "527" groups. He never heard of these groups when he made his pledge in 2007? Of course he had. But he is a consummate Prince. For my part, I hope he shows the same flexibility with his promises to pull out of Iraq and to lower sea levels.

Instincts

I'll admit it. John McCain's been erratic at times this election. I'm still not sure what his position is on the bailout, and what's all this talk of regulation? In any case, Obama proposed unilaterally renegotiating trade deals, raising the top tax rate from 35 to 41%, raising the capital gains tax and eliminating the cap on payroll taxes. He opines that this is good economics during a crisis. I encourage him to ask economic historians the effects of the Smoot-Hawley tariffs and Herbert Hoover's tax increases in 1930. Suffice it to say that the American economy was not re-ignited.

If we go by what Senator McCain did when he was seriously involved in issues, not campaigning, McCain shows unparalleled instincts. He has a gut level objection to major spending increases, such as Medicare Part D. He supports tax cuts, no question, but he questions tax cuts. Keep in mind that he voted against Bush's tax cuts in 2001. Again, I disagree, but the point is that McCain considers the practical implications of each bill. He doesn't simply put a bill in a 'conservative' bucket and a 'liberal' bucket and vote accordingly. He still shows this kind of critical ability, opposing the most recent Energy Bill, full of unnecessary tax cuts and bizarre gifts to energy companies. Barack Obama supported the bill along with seventy-three other senators. Obama characteristically shirked a leadership role.

Many Obama supporters argue that Obama show good instincts. They have one (1) example. Senator Obama gave a speech in 2003 that opposed the war in Iraq. This, while he has running in a Democratic primary and appealing to the Chicago anti-war movement. Once elected, in 2004, he declared that there's wasn’t a difference between his position and President Bush's. He claimed that he wished the war hadn't happened, but now that we were there, we had to win. This, in good accordance with Illinois opinion.

Later, as the war faltered, he renewed opposition. He opposed the surge. Instead, he wanted our soldiers to come home once they faced serious adversity. He went as far as to vote against funding to bring them home. This, in good accordance with American public opinion.

Barack Obama has not shown good instincts. He has no legislative achievements. When he has opportunities to show himself a reasonable moderate - as with McCain's "Gang of Fourteen" senators that banded together to save traditional Senate rules on debate - he rejected the chance. If Obama does make a good president, nothing he's done in the U.S. or Illinois Senate will foreshadow it. I'm not surprised that so many of my friends ignore history and personal characteristics in favor of anger towards President Bush and joyous participation in the pop culture phenom that Obama made himself into, but I am disappointed by it.

I support John McCain because he made a lifetime commitment to America, he shows uncommon instincts, and he's been the man of action when action is demanded. He will make an exceptional president. On November fourth, please join me in voting for John McCain.