McCain '08: The Moderate Choice for President

Known as "The Maverick" during his first campaign for President in 2000, the Republican Senator from Arizona faces an uphill battle in a wide open field for both his party's nomination and the national election. John McCain's support of the Iraq War and President Bush's troop surge have cost him dearly in the polls, but perhaps not as dearly as his position on illegal immigration, where oddly enough, he finds himself aligned with both Democratic Senator Kennedy and the president.

Amnesty has been the word of choice used by the harshest critiques of the proposals being kicked around in the halls of Congress these days describing their position. However, pragmatic would be a more appropriate description in the opinion of many moderates.

Immigration policies aside, the War in Iraq has been championed by McCain as a fight for the long haul that the U.S. must win. Unfortunately for him, support for the president's war strategy continues to erode, even with many from his own party. Even some moderate Republicans have began to voice their doubts and joined many of the Democrats in a call for a major policy shift.

McCain was once considered one of those moderate conservative who lead the charge for campaign finance reform and who spoke out against pork barrel spending in Congress. He didn't kowtow to the conservative base, including the religious right once lead by the late Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson during his 2000 campaign, when he lost out to Bush for the nomination.

However, McCain appears to have taken away something from that defeat, and as a consequence upset some of his moderate supporters this time around. "The Maverick" has taken a more traditional approach to campaigning in hopes of securing the Republican base to bolster his chances for winning his party's nomination. The media's golden boy has now come under fire for this about face, because he has seemingly forgotten what made him such a popular figure over the years.

What should not be forgotten by the media, however, is what McCain represents. A Vietnam War hero who was held captive in a Vietnamese POW camp for five and one-half years and tortured for information, the man has endured much in his life and deserves a little leeway when it comes to his presidential aspirations.

To become President of the United States, the candidate must succumb to certain realities in order to win an election. Before running for the highest office in a national election, which many political pundits say McCain could have easily won in 2000, the party's nomination must be won. Running as an Independent third party candidate is not a realistic approach for victory, something many have called on McCain to do over the years.

Even given these realities, Mr. McCain has remained steadfast and consistent on core issues that he cares about as do many Americans. He has remained honest and upfront by speaking out about ethics standards in Congress, against the use of torture on prisoners by the military and intelligence agencies, deficit reduction, environmental protection, decreasing dependence on foreign oil, gun control, against abortion, tougher sentences for criminals, and for government regulated embryonic stem cell research.

Although to the eyes of the media, he has appeared to have shifted more to the right because of his softened attitude towards some right-wing groups like the Moral Majority which he once termed "an agent of intolerance," or his new found devotion to the re-election President Bush in 2004 after the Bush campaign team ran an attack ad smearing him and his family in the South Carolina primary in 2000.

The fact is, Senator McCain has adopted a more practical approach for his second presidential campaign in hopes of being successful in capturing the Republican nomination for President in 2008. He could not accomplish his goal of becoming president without first winning his own party's nomination.

Whatever supporters he may have lost since 2000 must realize that if the senator were to the win the national election, he would still be the same man whom they initially supported. The McCain constituency will always be made up of admirers of the maverick approach to government, a quality McCain may not have lost, but merely put on the back burner for purely pragmatic reasons until the nomination has been won. Only then can John McCain make a difference as many have envisioned.