Feb
29
John McCain’s Disadvantage
February 29, 2008 | | 1 Comment
by Maggie ZUO Yitong
At John McCain’s young age, he has never been bound by the strict family education from his father, a former commander in United States Naval. McCain has never asked his father about the war when he is young. He later explained: “This is a silent protest,” because he “does not like the fate of his own life was planned by others.” This innately rebellious character makes McCain have different views on many issues with the mainstream of the Republican Party.
As a moderate Republican, McCain’s policy of immigration was criticized in the party many times. In 2005, McCain advocates that the illegal immigrants who have been in the United States could continue to stay in the United States after paying some fine, however, so many Republicans accused his “soft” illegal immigrants. In 2007, McCain’s presidential campaign was also in trouble because of his immigration policy.
Furthermore, the relationship between McCain and the current President Bush is very delicate. He has ever voted against Bush’s tax cut plan in the Senate, and has publicly criticized Bush on the issue of ignoring climate change problem. In 2008, as the campaign progresses, McCain have to distance himself from Bush. In a age of changing and innovating, any candidates on behalf of vested interest groups are easily abandoned. Therefore, McCain benefited greatly from handling well the relationship with Bush.
Compared with the Democratic Party presidential candidates Hillary and Obama, McCain has three major advantages: First, McCain has nearly 30 years of political experience, compared to his political opponents who are only the beginners and lack of experience; Second, McCain’s image of “war hero” and his military experience of foreign and security policy; Three, McCain’s outspoken character and values are somewhat easy to convince those conservative voters.
Correspondingly, the disadvantage of McCain is also very obvious. First, he was too old, for the conservatives, some of his social policies are too moderate, and some of his policies is pretty near to the Democratic Party position, it is difficult to be accepted by the Republicans. In addition, McCain’s personal marital problem is also big shortcoming. He has had three marriages that will make conservative voters suspicious of his conduct. All of these may become a major obstacle for him to enter the White House.
We all know that United States is in the economic downturn, so the ordinary voters are not so concerned about foreign affairs. Therefore, the economic topics to some degree are more important than the war of Iraq and have become the top concern for the United States presidential elections. Actually, the experienced candidates in the economic field from two parties both have the bullish situation in the campaign. McCain, a veteran in the Vietnam War, his strengths is the realm of diplomacy, but economic fields are not his advantage; this might affect his support rate.
(Week Three Post: The US Presidential Candidate’s Disadvantage)
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Do you think the rumours about McCain’s private life published recently in the New York Times are going to hurt his chances?