Posted 6:34 am Sunday, October 19, 2008
McCain Our Choice In Difficult Decision
The 2008 presidential race is every bit as surprising as it is historical.
A year ago, few would have predicted that either Sen. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama would be at the top of their respective parties' tickets.
Both have proven to be formidable candidates who outlasted and out-campaigned their primary opponents.
But there are clear differences between McCain and Obama in both issues and experience. And McCain has the better of both.
No endorsement of John McCain can be completely unqualified. His relationship with the conservative wing of the Republican Party has often been strained, and he has supported and even authored some legislation conservatives have objected to, such as the failed immigration reform bill of 2007.
And McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate has turned out to be a massive miscalculation. That choice, and several other strategic errors on the part of the McCain campaign, smack of desperation.
Yet John McCain adheres more closely to the principles of limited government that we advocate.
Barack Obama's candidacy is undoubtedly historic; it speaks well of the United States as a country that a young black senator can lead a major party's ticket.
Yet so is the McCain/Palin ticket. Whatever Gov. Palin's qualifications, she still would be the first female vice president. In either event, new ground will be broken.
McCain is right to refute Obama's charge that voting for the GOP slate would be voting for another four years of George W. Bush. McCain is not Bush. Whoever wins, there will be change.
The real question is the kind of change. Frankly, there are few specifics about real, substantial and lasting change in the way Washington works coming from either camp.
And neither candidate is being honest about taxes. Promises of tax cuts ring hollow, in light of the more than $1 trillion pledged to financial sector bailouts. That piper must be paid.
But John McCain has a greater opportunity to govern from the middle than Obama does. McCain has a strong history of bipartisan accomplishments - something that was a weakness during the primary season but should be a strength now.
McCain has shown he can work with the Democratic Party, which will no doubt remain in control of Congress.
And Congress will have to step up to the plate, put partisanship aside and start seeking real solutions. The sputtering response to the financial crisis had demonstrated a serious failure in leadership in Washington. The nation needs and deserves better.
We don't look to either candidate to be the savior of our economy, on social and cultural issues, or on foreign policy. We know the Washington system is broken. Maybe this election is really about limiting the harm, as we wait for new leadership - real leadership - to emerge.
Given the choices, we endorse Republican Sen. John McCain for president of the United States.
