The Maverick in the Arena

Sen. John McCain is in the arena, his face marred by dust, sweat and blood—and that’s just on the Right. Two-fifths of Republicans are voting for him this November because they can’t stand the other guy, according to a recent Hotline poll. And one tenth of them are voting for the Democrat.

“I was a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution,” McCain protests, brandishing his American Conservative Union lifetime rating of 83 percent, compared to eight percent for Sen. Barack Obama. Still, conservatives charge insubordination: The maverick pulls his punches with his Democratic opponents, yet pummels his Republican allies. To win the Right’s trust, he must fight for it, not against it.

Courting moderates, McCain likens himself to Teddy Roosevelt, the Bull Moose who bucked both political parties. True, the maverick clips Republicans often: He called Donald Rumsfeld one of the worst defense secretaries in history, dubbed the federal response to Hurricane Katrina “disgraceful,” and slammed President Bush for “shirking” his duty to combat climate change.

Yet McCain’s wrists go limp when he’s dueling Democrats. The maverick labeled Obama’s plan to raise taxes “out of touch.” He called the Democratic frontrunner’s pledge to keep troops in Iraq to attack al Qaeda, after vowing to withdraw them immediately, “remarkable.” And when Ahmed Yousef, a member of Hamas, effectively endorsed Obama, McCain bellowed, “I think people can make judgments accordingly.”

Unlike the maverick, liberals fight dirty. Distorting McCain’s remarks at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, Obama declared, “John McCain wants to continue a war in Iraq perhaps as long as 100 years,” which the non-partisan watchdog, Factcheck.org, says is a “rank falsehood.” Taking a cheap shot at his opponent’s age, the Illinois Democrat recently accused McCain of “losing his bearings.” And it’s only May.

The muckrakers—McCain’s supposed pals—aren’t jumping to his defense; they’re adding to the body pile. In February, The New York Times, which endorsed him over his more conservative rivals in the primary, published a story suggesting he had a tryst with a female lobbyist. His response? He was “disappointed” in the paper. To quote Bob Dole, where’s the outrage?

Conservatives don’t just feel underappreciated; they worry the maverick’s unrequited love has pushed him leftward. In March, McCain was hands-off the housing market, asserting, “[I]t is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.” Two weeks later, he was hands-on, insisting, “We will combine the power of government and the private sector to find immediate solutions for deserving American homeowners.”

And last week, McCain announced he would bring most of the troops in Iraq home by 2013. During the Florida primary, however, he chided Gov. Mitt Romney for saying the President and his generals should have private “timetables” to measure progress. Romney didn’t offer a public date for withdrawal, yet McCain accused him of wanting to “wave the white flag.” So what’s he doing?

McCain should stop trumpeting the issues on which he leans leftward, because liberals are still going to vote for the Democrat. Why pick Teddy when you can have Franklin? Instead, McCain should persuade voters that his deal is squarer than his opponent’s. His rhetoric needn’t be ugly, only firm. He also should remind conservatives why he’s worth the vote—he’ll need every one of them in November.

I know McCain stands for victory in Iraq, smaller, better government, and traditional values. But I want him to fight vigorously for those beliefs in the arena. For now, I’m sitting on the sidelines, shouting my two words of advice to the maverick for the fall: Aim left.


Brian J. Bolduc ’10, a Crimson editorial editor, is an economics concentrator in Winthrop House.