Senator John McCain’s life story is a classic tale of comebacks. In Vietnam, his plane was shot down and he was captured, tortured and held prisoner-of-war for five and a half years. During that period, he nearly broke down on a couple of occasions, but each time he persisted, survived and was finally released. Last summer, when his campaign for the Republican nomination teetered on the brink of bankruptcy — his support for the then unpopular Iraq surge seemingly alienated potential donors — he rebounded, saving his candidacy by, as a few commentators noted, doing what he does best: engaging in a guerilla style-warfare. With these efforts, he reinvigorated his campaign that he eventually collected a string of critical victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.
Most of all, the man whom some felt should have, eight years ago, assumed the Republican nomination for the Presidency is now back, eight years later, to assume that role: With his numerous victories on Super Tuesday, he now leads as the party’s frontrunner. It is, in a true sense, a story of second chances.
Yet the Republican Party establishment and media-leaning conservatives are recoiling at a President McCain prospect, despite polls suggesting that in a matchup, he might be the best Republican nominee against a Democrat. Ann Coulter, a conservative commentator, went as far as to state that “If [McCain’s] our candidate, then Hillary's going to be our girl.”
What drives this ferocious backlash? Because a McCain victory might symbolize the beginning of the end of “movement conservative”: a term prominent economist Paul Krugman, in his book “The Conscience of a Liberal,” denoted for the hijack of conservatism by the extreme right-wing of the party.
According to Krugman’s controversial hypotheses, movement conservatives have, for decades, been attempting to roll back the New Deal. Supposedly, it began with Barry Goldwater’s ascension as the 1964 Republican nominee — he galvanized the conservatives with a common purpose — and continued with their ferocious opposition of the 1994 universal health care plan and culminated with President Bush’s attempts at privatizing Social Security. Their operations, he remarks, are conducted through numerous avenues, such as through “the proliferation of … think tanks,” with the extreme secrecy and increment of executive power in Washington during the past few years a byproduct of this movement. As it is a movement that seeks not less, but more partisanship, it is part of the reason for the current climate of national polarization.
Thus, McCain’s comeback is, in a way, a referendum on the goal movement conservative seeks to achieve. It is a voter repudiation of the Republican Party’s direction. And the Republican establishment, simply said, can’t contemplate the possibility of a conservative siding with Democrats.
This situation is a result of McCain’s willingness to stand for his beliefs. McCain, in many areas, is notorious for being a maverick. Last year, together with Senator Ted Kennedy, he supported comprehensive immigration reform in Congress — it was ultimately defeated — as well as opposing the party establishment’s positions countless times in the past, such as his vote against President Bush’s tax cut. In short, he is the absolute antithesis of an ideal movement conservative candidate.
But this integrity is what has drawn many voters to McCain. In polls, McCain staunchest supporters often consist of independents, suggesting that his ability for bipartisanship and moderation appeals. David Brooks, the conservative New York Times columnist, succinctly summed it when he remarked that McCain’s fearlessness to unabashedly fight for his platforms are a product of his experiences in Vietnam, as “prison in Vietnam gave him self-respect and a cause greater than himself.” In this sense, McCain’s politics isn’t about himself but about the greater good.
McCain’s impressive victories on Super Tuesday continue the tale of a stunning comeback. It is a tale that will complete itself should he ascend the White House in 2009 as President.
One commentator called McCain “a phoenix reborn.” Send ZACH HAN your own term of McCain to zklhan@ucdavis.edu.
