Obama's Alliance With McCain, And How It All Fell Apart

"A year into his tenure on Capitol Hill, Barack Obama (D-Ill.) approached John McCain on the Senate floor to propose the two work together on a lobbying and ethics reform bill," the Washington Post recalls. "The four-term Arizona Republican, 25 years Obama's senior, quickly saw a willing apprentice to help shake up the way business was done on Capitol Hill."

"I like him; he's probably got a great future. We can do some work together," McCain confided to his top staffer.

Instead, what began as a promising collaboration between two men bent on burnishing their reformist credentials collapsed after barely a week. The McCain-Obama relationship came undone amid charges and countercharges, all aired publicly two years ago in an exchange of stark and angry letters. Obama questioned whether McCain sided with GOP leaders rather than searching for a bipartisan solution; McCain accused Obama of "typical rhetorical gloss" and "self interested partisan posturing" by a newcomer seeking to ingratiate himself with party leaders.

"Please be assured I won't make the same mistake again," McCain wrote Obama on Feb. 6, 2006.

It was the first, and only, time the two ever tried extensively working together.

More than two years later, with McCain and Obama potentially poised to go head to head in a presidential campaign with stakes far greater than regulating who picks up steakhouse tabs, the reform fight has emerged as a looking-glass moment of what a fall campaign could resemble.

McCain's backers view it as emblematic of Obama's ability to talk grand ideas and aspirations, but also of his ultimate failure to produce substantive results. Obama's supporters contend that the moment was vintage Obama, with the newcomer defusing the feud with a cool demeanor that allowed him to claim the high ground while rolling up his sleeves to eventually help pass a broader ethics overhaul bill in August 2007.

Read the full article here.

Comments

[WHATISTHIS]

THE STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS GOT BENDED EVERY NOW AND THEN!!!

BIG MAC IS A FAKE!!!

GO BARACK OBAMA 2008

[TLV]

I heard a comment on NPR that McCain is virtually absent from the media. He sure seems to be here at the Huffington Post. I thought this was a an interesting fact I found at Crooks and Liars concerning McCain's healthcare proposal:

Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Democratic presidential contender John Edwards, said she and John McCain have one thing in common: “Neither one of us would be covered by his health policy.”

Edwards lodged her criticism of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s proposal Saturday at the annual meeting of the Assn. of Health Care Journalists.

Under McCain’s plan, insurance companies “wouldn’t have to cover preexisting conditions like melanoma and breast cancer,” she said.

McCain has been treated for melanoma, the most serious type of skin malignancy. Edwards in 2004 was diagnosed with breast cancer, and announced a year ago that it had returned and spread into her bones, meaning it no longer could be cured.

McCain’s plan focuses on offering new tax breaks for individuals who buy their own health insurance. But critics say the Arizona senator’s proposal avoids giving insurers requirements on whom they must cover and how much they may charge.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/03/31/elizabeth-edwards-on-mccains-healthcare-plan/

[mamacat]

It would be interesting to get to the bottom of this story. In the meantime, I rather think that Sen. McCain's well known penchant for out-of-control temper may have had something to do with it.

[BigBen]

Sure knows how to reach across the aisle and get things done.

[kennedy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZhNNxnGHiI

[ruscle]

Link not worth following. A McSame speech warning us that he will not let us believe in hope or a change of course. Something like that.

McSAME. = 4 more years of Bush.

[chinaskee]

Just keep in mind that the people are supporting Obama are cut from the cloth as the people who sat on the OJ Simpson jury and let an obviously guilty double murderer walk free.

[ruscle]

That's an strange comment to find in such a progressive community.

For the record, me (white) and three black friends of mine all thought OJ was guilty. And all of us have sent Obama money.

[GodisHateSpeech]

Welcome to the Freak Show.

[BigBen]

That is what they said when you were around.Believe me you are always "whitey"

[Ping]

"If the glove does not fit, you must acquit."

[BetterDays]

Wow, quite a stretch so early in the morning. I thought OJ was as guilty as sin but support Obama. By "cut from the same cloth" one might assume you mean a certain race.

Try the KKK site, Chinaskee. They would view your insulting comparison as a brilliant talking point.

[hopefulintexas]

log me also as a white person, outraged that OJ was acquitted, who supports Obama

[research]

Obama tried to work with McCain and the Neocons.

Good. He even had some success.

Obama realized many necons, like McBomb put party and cronies before country and bipartisanship, and he doesn't waste his time with those neocons.

Very good.

Obama won't be taken advantage of.

[ltfHusseincrazy]

Advice for anyone about to read these comments: Don't, they are mostly useless poor me I'm a white guy and the black people get all the breaks type comments. Review history before reading them. Black people were carried here on slave ships to do manual labor for rich white land owners. The field they play on is different. If you can't see that you are entirely wrapped up in your self to the point of dementia!

[broken76]

If you read the full article it does state that Obama passed the ethics bill in August 2007. This was a bill that McCain opposed stating that it wasn't tough enough. In this I agree with McCain but am glad that the current bill was passed. Just because it wasn't tough enough isn't a good reason to oppose it. It may not be a big enough step forward but at least it is a step forward in the right direction.

[couch2000]

The Headlines tonight was, Obama may be more Liberal than he says he is, WOW, i think this guy has a lot of gost hanging in his closet

[GodisHateSpeech]

And what is hanging in YOURS?

[wmfor]

Liberal is not a dirty word.

Except to you neocons.

[couch2000]

I think when Obama said that we were all like his grandma a Typical White Person, we should all do like the Black Community does, Raise ****, lets play like they do and do like Al Sharpton, load up the Buses and protest his rallies These black Leaders and preachers defending Pastor Wright are forgetting something, are they stupid, you all been preaching against this for 30 years, and now its ok? make up your ***mind. you cant have it both ways here

[research]

What BS!

"

The point I was making was not that grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn’t.

But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, you know, there’s a reaction that’s been bred in our experiences that don’t go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that’s just the nature of race in our society.

We have to break through it, and what makes me optimistic is you see each generation feeling a little less like that, and that’s powerful stuff."

now, couch, that you have seen the entire quote instead of the Fake Niose sound bite, what is your F^&%ing problem?

[indie17]

Guess you dumbed-down Obama's comments to a level that you thought you could understand.

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." -- Albert Einstein

[afgail]

Obama had a nasty falling out with McCain in two weeks????? Sounds a lot like Obama's birth father (smart, well educated and undone by his personality - inability to work with others.) Obama's dad went back to Kenya to accomplish great things but who turned his colleagues in the government off by his self aggrandizing attitude. Seems to echo through this article. Sounds familiar.

[gotalife]

Ah, the unity lasted a week.

The Dem Senators will use the cover of unity to vote with the gop for corporate interests.

[greylox]

**TUZLA! TUZLA TUZLA TUZLA. TUZLA. TUZLA. TUZLA!

[NOLIESPLEASE]

McCain realized he will be running for President. Not to look non-partisan McCain stopped working with anybody considered to liberal. Thus we get Libberman as the side kick.

[McSurgent]

John Edwards seconds that about Obama. What Barack, no Emil Jones to pad your resume?

[edsel]

Of course he's grumpy he's an old fart

[goldenshaman]

Is McCain a fake POW?

No doubt he was in the Hanoi Hilton.

But had he been tortured one would expect his to be among the loudest voices protecting US torture of POW's in Iraq.

[xcrunner77]

John McCain is an angry old man. If he can't work with Obama, that's a poor eflection on McCain, not Obama

[shano]

Well, it proves McCains reputation as a 'maverick' is completely false. Why do Independents fall for his supposed bipartisanship?

And it proves that Obama is willing to stand his ground to get what he wanted.

He knew McCain was not the one who would want government transparency. McCain is probably the last one who would want lobbyist reform or government transparency, haha. This will be interesting to see discussed in the Obama/McCain debates.

[rudyinbama]

No, it proves when Obama "reaches across the aisle," he get's his hand bitten off just like anyone else.

[crl9]

Yeah right, Russell Feingold is a really hard line Republican. Of course the people of Wisconsin are going to be surprised Feingold morphed from Democrat to Republican to fit your scenario of McCain not being able to work with Democrats.