McCain Shows his Independence
There was an interesting article over at CNN.com today about McCain criticizing Bush. In regards to the federal government’s failure to accomplish…well…anything after Katrina, McCain remarked:
We know we didn’t have the right kind of leadership … where government agencies were getting information from watching cable television rather than have a flow of information. … Never again will there be a mismanaged natural disaster.
Well, the last statement (“Never again…”) is unlikely – government will always fail at something. But that’s beside the point. The point is that McCain isn’t backing down from criticizing a sitting president, of his own party, who’s endorsed him.
Not an easy thing to do.
These critical statements, whether or not you agree with them, show not only the strength of McCain’s character, but also the very real potential he has to move beyond the partisan divide. Obama’s potential to do so, though far greater than that of most Democrats (or Republicans), is hampered by his inanely partisan voting record. McCain, on the other hand, has shown that he is not afraid to depart from the party position on a matter of his own principles. That’s a characteristic that has the potential to unite our country.
This is reflected also in what McCain said in opposition to the recent NC GOP anti-Obama ad (an ad which was, frankly, ridiculous):
I can’t dictate to them. But I want to be the candidate of everybody. I want to be the candidate of Republicans and Democrats and independents.
And that, indeed, is what we need most.
McWan for President 2008! Let’s import 125 millions folks from down South…! Sound like a plan?
Doesn’t Obama at least have the whole Lugar-Obama lets-disarm-russia’s-nukes thing working for him? That was at least bi-partisan. And how much partisanship can he have shown in the senate anyway? There have only been so many bills to go through so far…its not like he has been there that long.
and as far as what we need most, what you said at the bottom…but, I don’t know if you are familiar with the line Obama has been using the whole campaign, and even beforehand.
“We are not red states, and blue states, we are the UNITED states, of America.”
Point Obama.
Trust me. I love Obama’s rhetoric. His message of unity is powerful, and it’s one i agree with. But I think that McCain is much closer to the center than he is. McCain’s biggest weakness (and probably the biggest problem I have with him) is his position on Iraq.
I’m not a McCain fan at all. And, I am not even sure what we need is someone that is a President of ‘all parties.’ I fear that by becoming more centralist (like McCain) that we will eventually slip more socialist.
With that said, I’m glad to see McCain criticize Bush. Many criticize McCain for being too much of a Bush backer and you know all too well that many people are voting Democrat simply because they don’t like Bush.
I think we do need a president of all parties. The partisainship in this nation is tearing it apart much more than any specific issue, and we need to try to mend that gap before we can expect any real reform in, well, anything.