What if McCain wins? How different would things be? We can be sure the mood of the Democratic Party and its friends in the media will be dark. Look for almost immediate accusations of voter fraud, election rigging, “dirty tricks,” etc. If it’s a close call, a reprise of 2000’s litigious scrambling is not at all out of the question. Charges of endemic American racism will also be rampant as the pundits and pollsters scramble to explain how a charismatic Democratic candidate could have lost yet again. McCain, of course, will be accused of negative campaigning and find himself on the receiving end of the kind of harsh and offensive humor that George Bush was subjected to before him.
A McCain administration would, however, be characterized by a more eclectic selection of staffers and cabinet level officials, chosen from both sides of the political spectrum because McCain prides himself on outreach. But a President McCain’s honeymoon with the media, if it didn’t end the day Obama clinched the Democratic nomination this past June, will certainly be long gone by the time he’s sworn in. There will be hatchet jobs alluding to his age and temperament and snide barbs directed at wife Cindy. McCain’s own penchant for misspeaking (shades of George W.) will also be turned against him.
Since McCain will continue to try to be all things to everyone, though, he’ll do his best to ignore such insults while bending over backward to win back the fickle media. But the press will not forgive him for the political upset he will have been responsible for. Meanwhile he’s likely to push to finish the stabilization of Iraq so we can get out of there with our heads high and to press for the resources to win in Afghanistan as well.
His support for Israel is also likely to be strong, but his intense desire to make his mark, and his maverick temperament, will likely tempt him to press Israel into a peace deal with its enemies, something the Bush administration has refrained from doing. But at this juncture in history it is unlikely that any American president will be prepared to demonstrate the kind of understanding of Israel’s predicament that Bush has shown.
As oil becomes a bigger and bigger issue, McCain will also come around to finally supporting drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, but ever so gingerly, so as not to alienate the press corps whose adulation and affection he still craves. Since it’s unlikely a President McCain he’ll have sufficiently long coat tails to drag a Republican Congressional majority in behind him, he’ll have an uphill fight with Congress over this and most other issues for at least the first two years of his administration, remaining locked in combat with a vengeful Democratic majority intent on ensuring he doesn’t eke out a second term.
For Americans this may actually be beneficial because a McCain presidency in the face of Democratic control of Congress is likely to ensure the sort of gridlock that keeps our legislators from doing too much harm. But McCain may not be all that eager to exercise his presidential veto in his search for common ground with a Congress intent on hamstringing him. In that case, we could well get tax increases since economics isn’t his strong suit, by his own admission.
Like President Bush before him, he can be swayed. McCain would also likely hand us more government growth than his party affiliation might lead us to expect. On the other hand, so did Bush who repeatedly compromised with a Congress bent on taking him to the cleaners.
But a President McCain could at least be expected to try to hold the line on government spending — he’s been strong on that issue for years. He’d push for immigration reform, too, while appointing conservative justices to the Supreme Court (though not too conservative, given his desire for “common ground”).