With Mitt Romney's exit from the Republican presidential race, it has become clear that Arizona Senator John McCain is the frontrunner for his party's nomination. Still, he faces a serious challenge from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee ' especially in southern states and among evangelical Christian voters. While Huckabee's brand of pseudo-conservative populism may appeal to some, McCain has long demonstrated that he is the only rational conservative in the race and the only Republican candidate capable of being president of the United States. He is also the only candidate who can restore the three C's that the Republican Party is currently lacking: conservatism, compassion and conscience.
It's true that some have questioned McCain's commitment to conservatism. The vile conservative superstar Ann Coulter has even said that she will campaign for Hillary Clinton if McCain wins the Republican nomination. Yet despite the backlash that McCain has received largely because of his support for campaign finance reform and comprehensive immigration reform, McCain is the only true conservative candidate. He is, for example, the only Republican candidate with the courage to fully oppose pork-barrel earmark spending and the fiscal record to back up what he's saying. Fiscal conservatives who have felt largely abandoned for the past seven years can be confident that McCain would once again turn the congressional purse right side up.
McCain would also restore compassion to the Republican Party. Campaigning in 2000, President Bush promised to be a new kind of compassionate conservative. He has in fact proven to be the exact opposite. His tax cuts, which McCain initially opposed, were both fiscally irresponsible and aimed at putting more money in the pockets of the wealthy while the working class suffered. Bush opposed embryonic stem cell research despite the evidence that it could revolutionize medicine, while McCain went against both president and party to support federal funding for such research. These are just two examples of how John McCain has lived up to the promise of compassion that George Bush made in 2000 and subsequently broke over and over again.
Finally, McCain would restore conscience to the Republican Party. McCain has been the only Republican presidential candidate to strongly and consistently oppose the use of torture in the war on terror. A victim of torture himself as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam era, McCain knows better than most the moral horrors of torture and the danger that setting a precedent of torture poses for our men and women in the armed services. McCain is also one of the few Republicans to recognize the moral obligation that we have to reverse the trend of global climate change. These positions, both of which are unpopular with the extreme base of his party, demonstrate that McCain would restore the conscience that was ripped away from the Republican Party by the Bush White House.
As a progressive, I would probably never vote for John McCain in a general election. Yet McCain is the only Republican in this race that I would not be ashamed to call my president. Conservative though he may be, McCain has demonstrated that he has an independent streak and a mind of his own. He has also proven that he is willing to fight and fight hard for what he believes in, even when fighting puts him at odds with his own party. These qualities are admirable and are qualities that any Republican president will need in order to lead this country effectively. While these qualities may set some red-blooded Republicans to boiling, they should consider this: An independent mind attracts independents, and it is the independent vote that any candidate will need to take the White House. Not only is McCain the Republicans' best candidate, he may also be the only one who can take the White House again. That's something that every Republican primary voter should stop to consider.
Nate Nelson is a sophomore political science major. E-mail him at nn318806@ohiou.edu.
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Nathan Nelson
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