Editorial
Los Angeles Daily News
January 27, 2008
Crossover candidates offer best hope for a unifying debate
IN choosing the major political parties' presidential nominees on Feb. 5, California voters will not only have a chance to shape the next four years of American policies but also to dictate the tone of the next nine months' discourse.
It is, at last, a chance to raise the level of the way Americans discuss politics and work toward the future.
And that is just one reason out of many why California Republicans could do no better than to choose John McCain, and Democrats should choose Barack Obama.
Policywise, the two may not have much in common, but they share the ability to transcend the ossified political divisions that have crippled this country for far too long.
In McCain, Republicans have a candidate who is true to their party's ideals but not a lackey to its leadership. He is that rare breed in politics, the principled leader who doesn't take his marching orders from party bosses or special interests and who actually says what he means.
Just look at Iraq. An early supporter of the war, McCain was unafraid to speak up and criticize Bush administration policy when the situation was dire, but the White House maintained a stubborn sense of denial. He led the charge in calling for the ouster of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld - an event that has proved to be a turning point in the war.
Later, when it couldn't have been less popular, McCain pushed for the surge.
History has proved him right on that score, too. And many U.S. troops and Iraqis' lives have been saved because of it.
On immigration, McCain defied a vocal, vitriolic minority within his party and pushed for the comprehensive reform America desperately needs. Many analysts argued - wrongly, it turns out - that the Arizona senator's resoluteness on this issue would doom his candidacy, but that didn't stop him. Solving one of America's greatest, long-ignored problems meant more to McCain than his ambition. (Too bad so few others in Washington agreed.)
He has also condemned the torture of enemy combatants. Coming from a man who heroically endured 52 years of torture himself in a Vietnamese POW camp, we shouldn't be surprised.
McCain's willingness to work across the aisle has made him popular among many Democrats and independents. Indeed, he is the one Republican with a realistic shot of turning "blue" states "red," or, - better yet - laying that spent division to rest once and for all.
Likewise, Obama also has the potential to break apart the old coalitions of American politics and create dynamic new ones in their place.
His is a candidacy that gives hope to many - to African-Americans, to be sure, and the young as well as people of all races who are inspired by his eloquence and delight in the thought of the U.S. putting the final nail in the coffin of its racist past by electing an African-American to the highest office in the land.
The Illinois senator's appeal is about much more than race. Obama speaks of hope in a way that Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton did before him. He doesn't despair over what is wrong in America today, but points to what is right, and how we can become better.
This marks a delightful change from the scare-mongering that's prevalent among most of the other candidates. Obama's pitch isn't predicated on exploiting the negatives of his rivals but on accentuating the positives in the American spirit and ideals.
No wonder many voters who don't necessarily care for his policies still find themselves impressed with Obama. They are swayed by his decency, by his vision, by the promise that his election could be historic in the way few others are.
Like McCain in 2000, Obama has been the victim of some unscrupulous and undignified campaigning this year. But he has, for the most part, resisted the temptation to jump in the gutter and drag America down with him. This is a testament to his character.
Imagine how different a McCain-Obama race would be compared with, say, a battle between Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton, in which both camps would trot out the usual partisan bogeymen and cheap shots. Instead, we would get a frank discussion of ideas, one based on finding the best way forward - for everyone.
It would be a campaign aimed at building America up, not tearing it apart. Whatever the outcome, the public would win, and there would be no loser. The country could only be edified by such a process and, hopefully, strengthened and united for the four years to follow, regardless of who is the president.
If that sounds idealistic, so be it.
In a time of war and economic uncertainty, America could use a little idealism right now. Which is why it needs Barack Obama and John McCain to square off in a campaign that moves us forward.