‘Maverick’ John McCain an able flip-flopper

I’ve made the mistake over the past year or so of still referring to the likely Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, as a maverick. For what was once true of the senator from Arizona during his insurgent 2000 presidential primary fight with George W. Bush is no longer the case.

McCain had earned his “street cred” by telling people the way it was and how he saw it and why he felt that way. He would frequently shirk GOP doctrine when he thought they were wrong which made him the darling of the media and earned him a great number of admirers to the political left. But sadly, there’s nothing maverick about McCain this time around.

The point was driven home for me when on July 13, during an interview with the New York Times; Sen. McCain had this to say of gay men and lesbians adopting children:
“I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no I don’t believe in gay adoption.”

When this hit the wires I found it a stunning declaration, especially for McCain. With children of all ages, races and needs languishing in orphanages or being shuttled from foster home to foster home, denying them a good and decent home based solely on the applicant’s sexual orientation is appalling.

Then, just as quickly as he had said it, camp McCain’s Director of Communications fired off an email to queer scribe and conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan stating that McCain could have been clearer and that in fact like marriage, adoption is a state issue and he was not endorsing any federal legislation.

Hey, John—what happened to the straight talk express? This was not a difficult question. It’s not like they asked you about government funded Viagra or something equally complex. But those days, I suspect, are long gone as well.

So with his newfound reversal and rigidity of opinions and the discovery of political double speak; I find it amusing that the McCain campaign has resorted to the old Republican playbook of trying to label their likely Democratic opponent this fall as, ironically, a flip-flopper.

To be fair, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has switched or expanded upon several positions in recent weeks but his campaign is more in keeping with what all successful presidential nominees have done—run to the right or to the left to secure your base—then sprint like hell to the center where the majority of Americans live and lock up their vote.

But what is going on with the McCain campaign is something altogether different. McCain has turned a complete about face when it comes to his political world view. He has changed his opinion on the Iraq war, the Bush tax cuts, warrantless wiretaps, terrorist detainees and water boarding. He has reversed his position on diplomatic relations with our enemies, GLBT equality, ethanol and intelligent design vs. creationism. He has flipped-flopped on the estate tax, drilling off of protected coastal shores, auto emissions standards, repealing Roe v. Wade and immigration reform. The list goes on and on.
Indeed, McCain is not the same man he was eight years ago and in fact, we hardly knew him. So to accuse Obama of being a flip-flopper or waffler or whatever the term of the day may be is at the very least hypocritical and at best delusional.

Personally, I like my president to be able to change his or her mind when presented with new facts and information. It is a sign of leadership, engagement and intellectual curiosity. Sure, all politicians engage in a little political gamesmanship from time to time—jockeying their positions ever so slightly as to appeal to the widest array of American voters. But to completely deconstruct who you are and what you believe in a desperate effort to get elected is something that I think both conservatives and progressives will agree is an affront to representative government. What’s more, this duplicity is born from the assumption that the American voter is just plain stupid and contrary to the last two presidential elections—we’re not.

You can e-mail Colin Murphy at colin_murphy@sbcglobal.net.