By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s unique character combined with his stances on foreign policy issues make him more electable than either of the two candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination, four political conservatives claimed at a panel discussion at Princeton University on Wednesday.
Three of the panelists explained what it was about Sen. McCain’s character that helped him defeat his Republican rivals in the primary and will benefit him in the general election against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama.
”It’s true if you look at the generic polls, the party most likely to win is definitely the Democrats, said panelist James Ceaser. “I suppose, unfortunately for the Democrats, generic is not on the ballot. It’s this fact that gives McCain a fighting chance.”
Mr. Ceaser, who is a visiting fellow with the university’s Madison Program, added, “A lot of the candidates were pretty much what you’d expect from their parties. Already in the Democratic Party there is no struggle over different types of Democrats. Everyone is using the exact same ideological slot. There’s very little difference between them.
”McCain, he’s a maverick, quite different,” Mr. Ceaser said. “There’s something about what McCain is doing by running in the same party as the president who he’s tied to the hip with on immigration and the war in Iraq and yet he’s completely apart from the president and his party, like few others have been since the election of Nicolas Sarkozy,” he said, referring to the recently elected president of France.
Panelist Yuval Levin said he expects the general election to be less about individuals than the primary has been, but that he thinks Sen. McCain’s character will still be an asset in the general election.
”If we’re confronted with Obama and McCain I still think there will be a character against character race,” said Mr. Levin, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a Washington, D.C. institute dedicated to applying Judeo-Christian moral traditions to public policy issues. “The real story of McCain, the extraordinary details … will prevail over Obama’s generic, fluffy hope message.
”If Hilary Clinton decided to say where she was working 35 years ago, McCain could remind her where he was 35 years ago in a way that was very powerful.
”McCain is simultaneously serious and likeable,” Mr. Levin added. “McCain is all character good and bad. He’s a guy who doesn’t care about political issues.”
While panelist William Kristol also attributed Sen. McCain’s success in the primary to his personal qualities, he disagreed that McCain’s character would carry him through the general election.
According to Mr. Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard and columnist for The New York Times, Sen. McCain will have to convince people of the importance of having a president with his stances on foreign policy issues to win the presidency.
”McCain ran as far as he could and tried to win New Hampshire,” Mr. Kristol said. “McCain won because of who he is, not because of what he stands for, not just because of his character and biography.
”Nobody else could have done what McCain did,” Mr. Kristol said. He demonstrated “pure stubbornness combined with boldness and I don’t care if the smart people tell me I can’t win.”
Mr. Kristol said the general election would be a highly ideological race.
”In the Democratic primary, no one cared much that the candidates didn’t seem to have foreign policy experience,” Mr. Kristol said. “In the Republican race, I’d say foreign policy is dominant.”
He added, “One question is whether we are living in a post 9/11 world or post-post 9/11 world in which health care and economy are the most important issues.
”I think as the general election approaches it will get back to 9/11 and you’ll have a post-9/11 election,” Mr. Kristol said. “A lot of issues will come up and Americans will have to make foreign policy judgements.”
Panelist Eric Cohen said Sen. McCain’s stance on the war in Iraq will give him an edge over whichever Democrat he faces in the general election.
”As much as all the numbers suggest Democrats are in very good shape, I just wonder when you put McCain against the Democrats, even with the unpopularity of the war and the uncertainty of where Iraq fits into the broader war on terror, that what the Democrats are offering in terms of leaving Iraq is going to seem somewhat dishonorable,” said Mr. Cohen, also a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. “The decent people who are seeking some kind of normalcy in Iraq I think will choose McCain who is the actual most hardheaded on foreign policy and the Democrats are going to look serious at best and dishonorable at worst.”
