OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
This year Americans face the most important presidential election in recent history. Already, in the last couple of months, the economy has caused nearly unprecedented measures, of which we can surely expect more over the coming weeks and months. This, along with new challenges in foreign policy require that the voter be more informed than ever when choosing a candidate to vote for this year. Open for Business believes that when the evidence is considered, the informed voter should vote for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for President of the United States.
Sen. McCain offers a stronger portfolio of credentials than any candidate to run for the country’s highest office in years. A war hero who honorably endured five years as a prisoner of war, John McCain has the sort of solid character that assures the American people he will make principled, not political or self-serving decisions. Perhaps the most powerful example of this was from during his war service, when a less honorable man might have taken an opportunity presented by the North Vietnamese to leave the prison as a propaganda piece after only a year – Sen. McCain remembered the military’s “first captured, first released” code and refused to take a pass before those in prison longer were released.
He also has a long legislative record, but one marked not with partisanship, but rather with coalition building of the sort needed when Americans are as markedly divided as they are at the present time. In the case of John McCain, a different sort of politics has not been a slogan but a course of action. On campaign finance reform, immigration reform, environmental policy and judicial nominees, he has struck out on a trajectory aimed at bipartisanship. The Gang of 14 – made up of seven Democrats and seven Republicans – for example, sought to disarm the worst tendencies in both parties concerning judicial nominees and insure a fair hearing for qualified individuals. Sen. McCain was perhaps the most visible member of “the gang;” notably, two other members of it, Sens. Joe Lieberman (In. D-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have been extremely active on the campaign trail for Sen. McCain.
Sometimes to the admiration (and sometimes the consternation) of conservatives, Sen. McCain has always shown a character of independence, pursuing a path he felt best served the country and not a party. Even if one disagrees with individual stands that the Arizona senator has taken, the honest observer must confess Sen. McCain does not seem to choose his positions because of their political expediency. Supporting the surge in Iraq seemed like a Quixotic way to prepare to run for the presidency, but he supported it because he believed it was the right thing to do. Likewise on issues that very easily could have dashed any hopes for a Republican presidential nomination – such as “comprehensive immigration reform” – he simply has refused to base decisions on what will get him elected.
OFB does not agree with all of the senator’s positions on these issues, but admires the character he has demonstrated. That said, while some of Sen. McCain’s positions may be other than that of OFB editors, many times the senator has been proven right, for example on the Iraq surge. Sen. McCain’s judgment has a sharpness surpassed by few.
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EDITOR'S NOTE ON OFB ENDORSEMENTS: Unlike some publications, Open for Business features contributors from a variety of political persuasions, including some who dissent from our editorial endorsements. We always welcome thoughtful contributions on politics and other subjects. |
Sen. McCain offers a strong counterweight to a likely heavily Democratic congress, but one that will not simply cause gridlock. McCain’s “maverick” independence makes him the sort of person uniquely able to work with such a congress without simply ceding to its more radical demands. Simply put, the congress seems prone to favor socializing institutions at a level never before seen in this country, and having a strong, principled counterweight will be vital to slowing down hasty decisions and insuring Americans are not permanently laden with a system that makes us worse off than we are now.
His ability to reach across the aisle is in part made possible thanks to his unusually apparent humility – an unusual trait amongst candidates for the land’s highest office. While his judgment has typically been sound, he is quick to take responsibility for his mistakes over the year – from his early, wilder days in the service to his divorce. He is also surprisingly reluctant to dive into his own heroic actions. Many would do well to learn from his example, not only in heroism but also humility.
Sen. McCain hence has three reasons that we submit him as the best candidate for the present time: he has the character to restore confidence in Washington, an independent streak that insures that he will do whatever is necessary to help the country face its economic and foreign affairs challenges, and a principled – not partisan – conservatism, which will work with that independent streak, to allow him to broker deals with the Congress without ceding to the elements in it that are out of the mainstream.
Sen. John McCain certainly has a strong resume for the difficult task at hand and a moral clarity to his service which is rare and commendable. Sen. McCain has the potential to be amongst the best American presidents and thus we urge all Americans to support him for the presidency on November 4.
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Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
I wouldn’t trust McCain to watch my dog for me or to run my garage sale.
He has proven his true character and his capabilities. He has neither.
He has placed the future of our country in the hands of a disreputable campaign staff and an unqualified, ill equiped, uninformed, radical right candidate for VP, both of which are dangerous decisions he has made as a candidate.
Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
drink some more republican kool-aid, then maybe if McCain is elected and dies while in office you can convince yourself that Barbie Mooseburger is just the greatest POTUS ever..
Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
Give it up. John McCain = George Bush. The only good thing he did was volunteer to go to Vietnam. For a navy man who finished 5th from the bottom, that says a lot. He is not an intelligent man. He just has connections like his admiral father.
By the way, for someone who cheats on his wife because his wife is disabled, is unconscionable. A self-respecting man will never do such a thing. But John McCain did. Look, he was smitten by Cindy’s family’s wealth. Can’t blame him for that, right? Wrong!
Give it up. John McCain is the wrong person to be the next president of the United States.
Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
Me thinks I smell a Christianfascist.
Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
I must reject your logic and your assumptions. It is disappointing to realize our intellectual basis for being Republicans is no longer the foundation of Republican politicians. It is embarrassing to see the Democrats now claiming a better foundation, although it is one of government intervention in the free markets. We have lost so much with leaders like Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and John McCain. We have lost our way. I will vote for Sen Obama and pray.
Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
the closing statement about the strength of john mcCains character was more relevant before the primaries ended. Unfortunately he hired the same bush team members, lobbyists, Rove tacticians, and religous fundamentalists as the G.W. Bush establishment. Most surprisingly, he displayed no humility when considering how many shady relationships, prior fiascos, racial slurs, violent extremist connections, and outright ethics violations McCain is caked with. Finally and most importantly, he has not released his medical records. That shouldve halted the entire process right there. NO ONE who votes for John McCain is making an informed vote for him because no one knows how healthy he is or what the likelyhood of his health faltering is. Also he doesnt seem tuned into the fact that Americans are more concerned with hearing solutions than attack ads.
Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
Is this for real OFB? We need a 21st century president to tackle 21st century issues in an ever challenging world. John McCain isn’t the same guy he was 5 or 10 years ago. He’s evolved some wings and is now one of the hawks, having castrated his “maverickicity” on his honey moon with boy George.
Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
DEMOCRATS headed the FINANCE committees that fought Fannie/Freddie reform and SUBPRIME loans.
UNACCEPTABLE : The LA TIMES refuses to RELEASE video of Obama at dinner with Rashid Khalidi. ……AMERICANS — BEFORE you vote please visit:
http: //www.actforamerica.org/ and see VOTER GUIDE
Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
I gotta ask are you guys really open for business or is that just a cute play on words. The bottom line is that by January 20, 2009 NO CURRENT TOOL IN THE GOVERNMENTS TOOLBOX IS GOING TO WORK AS EXPECTED and when they are attempted to be used the results will be highly unstable.
This election really is about those of us who are still in denial over what has transpired and those of us who accept what has transpired and are ready to move into action to start learning new ways of doing things.
I’ll will put this to you as gently as I can.
Not in my lifetime. Not in your lifetime. Not in your childrens, or childrens childrens lifetime will this Nation ever return to the way things were. Accept that and move on. No amount of lipstick on a moose and no old guy yelling fight, fight, fight, and no 30 minute infomercial is going to change that. It is over and by January 20, if we make it that far, you will know that as I know that.
Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
hmm… this is very curious.
McCain is a great man and a great American - no doubt. I too wanted to see him become president (back in 2000 especially) He deserves it and has earned it. I noticed this endorsement conspicuously never mentions his VP - Sarah Palin. I think they were trying to ignore that, ahem, issue. But I cannot. I have decided NOT to vote for this wonderful man because I feel that I cannot tolerate someone so ill-prepared for office to be that close to the presidency. I see this as evidence of McCain’s inability to make clear and good choices at this juncture - perhaps part age and part his advisers fault I’m not sure. But his choice of Palin as a VP cost him my vote at least. I will cast my vote for Obama, another fine candidate for president.
(and what’s up with all that Christian nonsense?!)
Re: OFB�s Endorsement for President of the United States
Obama has certainly hung around with controversial figures. But let’s be fair, he’s no terrorist. Obama is really a spokesman for those who are in need, a social servant. Now there are plenty of PROUD mid-state Americans in their corn husk ideals who can some how rationalize Obama as a terorist, and yet consider Bush as a “commander in chief”. I tell you the truth, Geogre Bush has created real and genuine terror for the lives of many people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Something between 1 and 1.5 million war related deaths can be linked to Bush’s policy abroad over the past 6 years. Now who is the real terrorist?
McCain shows absolute consistent pro-war policy, and he’s really an older worse version of Bush. I call him McBush the 3rd. And you don’t have to be a militant republican to be a patriotic American — they have rather tarnished the idea of patriotism in recent years.
Obama is not perfect, but he’s the better choice for definite.
Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
I’ll tell you something else too, now that it doesn’t make a difference. Most if not all of the inflammatory material that the RNC has been using was generated and planted by democratic strategists and others to gut the RNC of it’s center moderates leaving the GOP with only the fringe right. People that exist in a confirmation bias do not do simple things like check email headers or look at page code. Most of the Anti-Obama sites were fakes set up to dupe an extremely gullible demographic group that for the most part is functionally illiterate. The more incensed the extreme right got, the more the Reagan republicans said, “man, those guys are whack jobs” they may still have their Republican faces on, but when they vote, they are voting for Obama in droves.
It was a 26 month long infowar campaign and hopefully on November 5th, those of us who have worked 16 hours a day on the keyboard, 7 days a week, will be able to say “Mission Accomplished” and have that really mean something instead of a stupid banner that was rolled out or a photo op.
Re: OFB’s Endorsement for President of the United States
As one of those dissenting voices here at OfB (mentioned in the inset), I am too tired of this campaign to write a full article. In general, I agree with Wayne’s comment above — nothing any politician can do, singly are altogether, could possibly be helpful. The options in this election is like choosing whether we’ll be crushed by a steamroller or a bulldozer; either way we still end up crushed. The whole system is so fundamentally flawed, I don’t know where to begin. Deeply divided over trivialities and allowing ourselves to be blinded from the real problems, we are doomed. Since there are plenty of better and more knowledgeable writers covering that, I’ll leave it for them.