Lately, I have been proud to be an Arizonan. This is obviously not because of the Diamondbacks, who finally won a game yesterday; I am talking politics. And, as I share state citizenship with the likes of Jim Irvin, Joe Arpaio, and J. D. Hayworth, this is a rare condition for me. But in spite of this less-than-stellar starting team, Sen. John McCain has been making me exceedingly proud of Capitol Hill of late.
In addition to this rare swell of hubris for the Grand Canyon State, I've been looking ahead to the 2004 presidential election. And as I consider the contest for the next leader of the Free World - whatever shape that is in when election day rolls around - I fervently hope Sen. McCain begins to cast his gaze across the National Mall toward 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
In my political fantasyland, McCain would again put in a bid for the GOP's presidential ticket in 2004 against incumbent frontrunner George W. Bush and any other naïve souls with West Wing aspirations. And in that political fantasyland, McCain would win. Let me tell you why.
In what is perhaps the foremost issue in the eyes of both politicos and the public, McCain has been on the front lines for this nation. A decorated naval aviator who flew numerous tours in Vietnam, McCain had five years of experience as a POW and is a recipient of the Purple Heart.
With troop deployment and casualties continuing to rise in the Iraqi campaign, McCain's courageous and vivid veteran career casts a staggering shadow over Bush's brief stint in the Texas National Guard and total lack of combat experience. His absolute suitability to the position of commander in chief is perhaps McCain's strongest claim to the Republican ticket and the public's heart.
In his 18-year career in the Senate, his commitment to U.S. military troops - not just the GOP-friendly concept of big defense spending, but the actual men and women - has been consistently vocal.
He just sponsored the popular "Troops Phone Home Free Act," authorizing the defense department to give prepaid phone service to troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as measures to give war survivor payments to the families of guardsmen and reservists who die in inactivated training.
But I am most persuaded of McCain's suitability for president by this nation's pressing need for the Senator's brand of fiscal policy. Day after day, we read that the war on which the administration gambled its hopes for economic revival is actually sinking the already deficit-loaded national economy toward recession.
Bush, never one to adapt his Reagan brand of tax-cutting ideology to current economic realities, sent his $726 billion tax cut to Congress two weeks ago, before he was willing to "guesstimate" on the costs of his war. The House just nodded, and Senate moderates led a campaign to slash the tax-cut in half, still approving $350 billion in tax cuts for the federal budget.
But McCain, along with several other moderate senators, vocally opposed a tax cut of any size, saying that in the midst of a war, costly in human lives and dollars, not cutting taxes "is far sounder statesmanship than cutting taxes in the dark, or running up spending, without due regard to our primary responsibility to the American people: their physical security."
The clincher for me, though, was McCain's wry and heroic effort to slice pork barrel spending from the $80 billion war appropriations bill shuffled through Congress last week. The senate measure includes $500,000 for sea lamprey control in Lake Champlain.
McCain offered these words of wisdom: "The sea lamprey does not, in my opinion, pose a clear and present danger to our national security." Maybe he's onto something. Tragically, his amendment to save $250 million unrelated to the war - sans the anti-lamprey funds - was voted down, 61-38.
Of course, McCain-for-president is a fanciful notion, and it is very unlikely that if McCain chose to run in the Republican primary, even with this A+ report card from the Hill and values that are contemporaneous with national attitudes, he would be able to win the ultra-conservative voting bloc that wields so much power in the GOP.
I have no doubt McCain would win the general election, today or next year, hands down. His politics and common-sense approach resonate with the majority of American's moderate attitudes. But McCain is not evangelical enough, and his moderate stance on many political "hot topics" would, in all likelihood, cost him the Republican primary.
Still, I can always say a prayer that the right-wing Christian Coalition in this country gets religion - my brand - and sees that John McCain is who we need in the White House.
Katie Petersen is an English and biology major. Reach her at katie.petersen@asu.edu.
