One of the things that has been astounding me as of late is the abandonment by moderates and conservatives of John McCain. Many of them are jumping ship and going over to Obama, even though the Senator doesn’t share share their values at all. They talk on and on about how John McCain isn’t the McCain of old and that he’s become mean and nasty. While I will agree that the tone has become more negative and that focusing on people like Bill Ayers in the time of a economic crisis is silly, the thought that McCain is the 21st century version of George Wallace is silly. If you want nasty Republican tactics, let’s try the whole series of Willie Horton ads of 1988. Or how about the “Hands” ad by Jesse Helms in the 1990 Senate race where he used resentment over affirmative action to win another term? Or how about all those horrible rumors about John McCain fathering a black child in 2000? Those past campaigns did stoke racial fears in order to win. The McCain campaign’s “dirty” tactics, such as the celebrity ad, or now talking about Ayers, is child’s play compared to campaigns of the past.
At some point in the near future, I will write about why I as a moderate Republican support McCain, but this article by Victor Davis Hanson makes some very good points. He give some reason why some on the right might be jumping ship:
Instead I think what we are seeing again is an interesting phenomenon of the old nice/now mean McCain. A great many moderates and conservatives are worn out and tired of Bush and Bush hatred, the European furor, serial charges of racism and illiberalism, and finally, in their weariness, think that Obama will, in a variety of ways, just make all the ickiness go away–as if he will make all of us be liked abroad and end racial and red/blue fighting at home.
I can understand this. As a moderate myself, I am tired of Bush and Bush hatred. I long for it to be over. But, as Hanson notes, the cure might not be any better than the disease:
They should ask themselves whether Jimmy Carter restored American popularity with his human rights campaigns, praise of left-wing dictators, dialogue during the hostage crisis (cf. “The Great Satan”), boasts of no more inordinate fear of communism, etc., or whether Obama, in his Trinity/Acorn/Pfleger years, brought racial healing and understanding to Chicago.
Jimmy Carter came into office hoping to restore dignity to the White House after the nightmare of Watergate. But he didn’t do that and was out of office four years later.
My own guess, is that a lot of moderates and conservatives are in love with Obama. And like a new crush, you don’t see all the “blemishes” or where he might disagree with you. Obama is everything that Bush and to some extent, McCain is not: he is witty and urbane. He is well traveled and exudes a certain grace under pressure. He’s like the really cool guy at school that everyone just admires. Compared to a grumpy, old fuddy duddy like McCain, who wouldn’t want that?
I will admit, it’s hard not to look at Obama and think he can bring about better times in America. But to make a judgment based on the externals and not look at his beliefs is at the very least misleading.
But I think my fellow moderates and conservatives fail to see the record of John McCain is more in line with them. What matters more to me is not that Obama talks about hope and change, than about their records and if they share my values. When I think about it that way, then McCain comes out on top. He has a good record on the environment, has truly reached across the isle on issues such as climate change, campaign finance and immigration, and has been willing to incur the wrath of his party for the greater good.
Voting for Obama means we are voting for someone with a liberal ideology. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just not my thing. I’m sorry, but if you think voting for Obama will bring about a moderate government when he has a thin record of true bipartisanship and with substantial Democratic majorities in Congress, then you are fooling yourself.
There is a part of me that believes a few years from now, midway into an Obama first term, there will be a lot of mea-culpas from moderates and conservatives who will write tearful letters about how they were duped by Obama.
Crossposted at The Square Deal