Presidential Candidate Profile: John McCain

Republican candidate

(If I had to support a Republican, it’d be McCain)

Previous experience:

Naval aviator, experience in the Vietnam War, House of Representatives and later Senate, success in campaign finance reform, and contended with GWB for the Republican nomination the last time around.

Positions:

Iraq: McCain has supported Bush through most of his policy while in office, although he typically pushes for increase of support within the US to keep the war going.

Iran: He would consider use of the military with Iran if the situation escalates.

Torture: A former POW, McCain is especially sensitive to matters of torture and has warned in the past that future US POW’s will suffer due to America’s current foreign policy.

Economy: McCain prefers reducing deficit spending to tax cutting (bonus points!)

The Environment: He wavers on this issue- at times he is particularly strong in one direction, such as when he opposed drilling in ANWR, but at other times he has supported Bush’s “environmental efforts”. McCain also favors increased nuclear energy resources as opposed to reliance on oil.

Gay marriage: McCain has said in the past that he believes each state should be able to decide this. He personally supports bans on gay marriage and the continued use of “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell” in the military.

Abortion: McCain is pro-life, although he would not support a repeal of Roe v. Wade

Stem cells: He supports research here.

Immigration: McCain supports and has helped created policies that allow illegal aliens to become citizens.

And now, for my opinion:

I think McCain is one of the few Republican candidates who can be willing to listen to both sides. He’s had a lot of experience working across the aisle and has shown that once he commits himself to an issue or initiative, he will work extremely hard to make it a success. I really admire that he supports reducing the deficit instead of cutting taxes. For me, McCain is the strong “foreign policy” candidate among the Republicans, but I think his shortfall is his lack of vision on domestic problems. Although it is certainly important to address the international concerns (Iraq, the environment, etc) I think it should be done in a framework that address the many domestic problems of our country (middle class poverty, health care, a rapidly deteriorating infrastructure, a stagnating economy, an evolving job market, etc). If McCain can show he’s committed to America’s problems first, I think he’ll achieve more success.