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'Hi, my name is John McCain' Sunday, Feb 10, 2008 By David Sanders John McCain faces a tough task. His emergence as the Republican Party's eventual presidential nominee requires him to reach out to convictional conservatives who, for a better part of a decade and with increasing intensity, have viewed him as an apostate. To someone who either isn't a conservative or simply equates conservatism with whatever President Bush or some other leading Republican says, this conundrum is hard to understand. For that person it's simple: McCain's problem is merely political so fixing it is as easy as giving a couple of red-meat speeches to conservative groups and making a few promises along the way. But it's much more complicated than that. In McCain, many conservatives view him not only as someone with whom they disagree over matters of policy, but as someone who would relish taking a battle ax to conservative orthodoxy, destroying what many have worked hard to preserve. With President Bush, many conservatives now recognize he simply lacks the across-the-board conviction on matters of conservative principle, but with McCain, they fear what is at his core. What drives him to passionately embrace a policy like campaign finance reform, which so many clearly view as limiting constitutionally protected political speech? What is it that makes him so insistent on pushing immigration policies that are an assault on the country's national sovereignty? Why was he so quick to speak out against cutting taxes? And why now is he quick to embrace and advocate passage of new environmental policies that would do harm to the U.S. economy? Could it be that in McCain there is no abiding belief in free markets? Why would he be so adamant at pushing something like the "Gang of 14," when, at the time, Senate Republicans could have put every single conservative judge on the federal bench? Those are just some of the questions racing through conservative minds. Those who oppose McCain cannot fathom supporting a nominee who is quick to sprint across the aisle to warmly embrace liberal Democrats. They are uneasy, because when he talks about making the Bush tax cuts permanent or appointing conservative judges they hear little passion or conviction. They hate that he is perceived to be at his best only if he is attacking those in his own party. To them he is a tool of the left, an enabler. So, how does he rebuild so many burned bridges? A sit-down with Ann Coulter, who said she'll campaign for Hillary Clinton if McCain is the nominee, or even Rush Limbaugh, probably isn't the best strategy. The temptation will be to pay lip service to his conservative antagonists, but that would only make matters worse. There will be those in his campaign who will tell him to move on and start worrying about the general election. But there are others who realize that without an intact base he has no chance of winning in November. John Weaver, a former McCain strategist, told the New York Times this week that some of those within the establishment who opposed McCain will eventually support him, but only after entering a 12-step program. Weaver got it backwards. McCain is the one who must admit to having the problem. Is it even possible for McCain to repair the damage? Who knows? A good starting place would be to admit that the past eight years haven't been among his best. He'll have to own up to letting his temper get the best of him. He'll have to publicly apologize to a few folks and extend a little grace to those who have wronged him. That's just step one. ------- David Sanders writes twice weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock and is a host of the Arkansas Education Television Network's "Unconventional Wisdom." His e-mail address is DavidJSanders@aol.com. |
