Features » June 18, 2008
Dismantling the Myth of McCain (cont’d)
Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain talks to reporters on May 28, in Beverly Hills, Calif.
When McCain could have used his moral weight as a torture victim to stand up to Bush's policies, he did so only rhetorically, eventually agreeing to legislation that still permitted waterboarding.
First, there’s McCain’s pledge — from which he is trying to retreat — to continue Bush’s war in Iraq, with occupying forces for 100 years if necessary.
Second, there’s a sharp foreign policy choice between Obama’s aggressive diplomacy and McCain’s military aggression (“Bomb, bomb, bomb — bomb, bomb Iran”). Even conservative Pat Buchanan writes that McCain “will make [Vice President Dick] Cheney look like Gandhi.” And Slate’s Fred Kaplan concludes that McCain’s approach to North Korea is worse than Bush’s.
Third, there’s McCain’s plan to continue Bush’s tax cuts for the rich, which could otherwise be used to fund needed policies to help working- and middle-class families. McCain’s chief economic adviser is former far-right Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), who recently lobbied on mortgage legislation for the hard-hit subprime speculator, Swiss-based bank UBS. Gramm signals that McCain will continue Bush’s policies of non-regulation of business and the financial sector. And McCain has a consistent record of opposing minimum-wage increases and favoring measures that weaken unions.
Fourth, McCain’s healthcare proposal is much like Bush’s (just as McCain and Bush both opposed expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and promoted Health Savings Accounts that mainly benefit the rich and healthy). Proposed tax code changes could lead many businesses to stop providing health insurance, forcing individuals to shop for insurance with a tax credit covering only half the cost of the average policy. Insurers would not have to cover people with pre-existing health problems (and could escape all state laws that set quality standards). Under McCain’s plan, most people will find it harder and more expensive to get insurance.
Fifth, like Bush, who met a firestorm of public opposition, McCain wants to privatize Social Security by creating personal, private accounts. With economic insecurity rising, McCain’s revival of Bush’s folly is likely to backfire politically, especially with older voters who might otherwise hesitate to vote for Obama.
Even on global warming — one of the few issues McCain claims independence and moderation compared to Bush — he refused to support his buddy Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-Conn.) climate change bill because its subsidies for nuclear power weren’t big enough (though McCain opposes subsidies for alternatives, such as wind).
Overall, McCain would try to move the country in the same direction most voters now think is wrong. But will they understand that? The Obama campaign, as well as the Democratic National Committee, regularly tries to identify McCain’s election as a third term for Bush. But there’s a long way to go in dismantling the myth of McCain “The Maverick” and in spelling out how much like Bush — and how unlike what most people say they want — McCain’s proposals are.
Little help from his friends
Parallel to the official campaigns, independent efforts are underway to define McCain as more Bush — or worse.
In March, without an endorsed candidate, the AFL-CIO started a McCain Revealed campaign. By June, the union had distributed more than 1 million leaflets related to McCain’s record to its members, and targeted key states and swing voters.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and other unions have mounted campaigns for healthcare reform that criticize McCain’s proposals. USAction, a national organization of statewide citizen groups, is focused on opposing the war in Iraq and advocating for national health insurance.
On the Web or in limited television buys, MoveOn.org, Brave New Films and other groups have produced videos linking Bush and McCain. One MoveOn ad shows the two politicians acting and talking similarly to the accompaniment of music from the 1960s “The Patty Duke Show” (“You can lose your mind, when cousins are two of a kind”).
But the big independent voter mobilization and advertising efforts of the past two elections — identified as 527 or 501(c)(4) groups, depending on their tax status — have not materialized.
Obama finance chair Penny Pritzker has told major Democratic donors not to fund these groups, and campaign spokesman Bill Burton confirmed to Politico.com that the campaign’s strategy is to control funds, message and advertising, much in keeping with Obama’s promise of a new kind of politics.
Although McCain has weakly decried the influence of 527 and other groups, he has said there’s little he can do about them. And major backers of the 2004 Swift Boat campaign have already vowed to raise $250 million to “attack Obama viciously.”
But even before Pritzker’s intervention, many progressive groups reported having a hard time raising money for their independent critiques of McCain, issue advocacy, advertising and coordination of efforts — despite early big contributions from investor George Soros and SEIU, to the Fund for America, which had hoped to raise $100 million to distribute to groups such as Campaign to Defend America, Progressive Media USA and America Votes.
“Long before the flap over whether the Obama campaign supported outside groups getting money, money wasn’t flowing,” says USAction Executive Director Jeff Blum. “The donor community has been frozen by the intensity, length and fascination of the primary.”
But he adds, “when the right-wing attack machine moves on to Barack, and that time is coming soon, I hope our side is in a position to respond independently, just as they attack independently.”
Independent groups supporting Democrats or progressive issues understand why the Obama campaign, with its fundraising success, wants to control the money and message. But they hope Obama’s strategists will eventually, if privately, recognize the role for independents.
“I can’t fathom that they won’t,” says longtime political strategist Don Rose. “They can play an important role. You want to control it as much as you can, but there are spots you want out that don’t say, ‘I approve of this message.’ ”
“You want to have many voices saying, more or less, the same thing about McCain,” argues USAction Program Director Alan Charney. “The Obama campaign is putting out more and more how close McCain is to Bush. It helps when other groups say the same, creating an echo chamber.”
But linking McCain to Bush’s failed and unpopular policies will not work without a “populist, aspirational message,” Blum says. “People want to know what you’re for and not just what you’re against. Bush personifies what a lot of people don’t like. You can establish McCain is a third Bush term and that may open the door, but to close the deal, you have to talk about what you’re for.”
For Obama, that means making his message of hope more concrete and meaningful for working-class and middle-income voters. And for that, he may need a little help from his friends.
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Appeared in the july 2008 Issue
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