McCain changes to get elected
Murray Light
Updated: 05/04/08 6:47 AM
There was a time not too many months ago when I was prepared to write a column expressing my support for Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States. I refrained from doing so because I was at odds with his stance on the Iraqi war and his strong support with President Bush on continuing that ill-fated war.
Now, for a host of additional reasons, I am delighted that I did not endorse McCain’s quest for the presidency.
The man I admired greatly for speaking his mind has in recent months shown that his principles remained constant only when they appeared to lead to the White House. Much to my chagrin, McCain has turned his back on much of what he previously espoused. In his quest for the presidency, McCain has abandoned his principles and no longer is the man who speaks his mind without fear or favor.
McCain’s change of style has worked and he has sewed up the Republican nomination for the presidency. He did it, however, at a cost to his strong position as a man who would not compromise his principles in any way.
Let us look at the McCain record on matters that are of importance to a great many voters, first, the issue of abortion. In 1999, he said that he did not support overturning of the Supreme Court ruling on Roe vs. Wade that found a constitutional right to abortion. Later McCain said that if elected president he would strive to overturn the court’s decision. It was a declaration that Republican conservatives wanted to hear.
Additionally, McCain has opposed family planning funding and sex education. It firmly cemented his support among the conservatives in the Republican Party.
Let us move now to the matter of taxes. Initially, McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts but now says
he would make them permanent as president. And on another matter, McCain, who had co-sponsored a bill that would make it easier for immigrants who are in this country illegally to become citizens, now says he would vote against it.
McCain’s response on another matter is significant. In 2000, he called the confederate flag a “symbol of racism and slavery.” He then backtracked, calling it a symbol of heritage.
What is significant is that in doing so he admitted, “if I answered honestly I could not win the South Carolina primary. So I chose to compromise my principles.” I at least have to admire his honesty in making that admission. It is more like the McCain of the past before his striving to become president.
A Newsweek column by Anna Quindlen observed that McCain’s famed Straight Talk Express is “all over the road.” She points out that there are optimists who believe that if elected McCain would “then emerge as a small government progressive who would set his own course.”
But Quindlen adds, and quite properly so, that “it is the greatest illusion to believe that a man will masquerade to win, then revert to his authentic self. After all, there is always another election coming.”
In a 2003 memoir, McCain wrote, “I wanted them to think of me still an honest man who simply had to cut a little here and there so that I could go on to be an honest president.”
Frankly, I cannot buy into that kind of thinking. McCain has exhibited an ability to change directions whenever he feels it is needed to accomplish his ends and that does not make for an honest president but rather one who will do whatever he feels is necessary when and if he is elected and seeks to be reelected.
Murray B. Light is the former editor of The Buffalo News
