The John McCain Imperative
Who John McCain picks as his vice presidential nominee is more important to the future of the Republican Party, and indeed the country, than it might otherwise initially seem.
Speculation of McCain's possible choices has grown with the news that prominent Republicans Mitt Romney, Charlie Crist and Bobby Jindal will join McCain over the Memorial Day holiday at his Sedona cabin, but if McCain and the Republicans give in to conventional tactics and select a conservative running mate to complement the maverick John McCain, they will most likely have opted for a losing strategy for a party that is now in decline.
The Republican Party is in a downward spiral since losing the majority in Congress in 2006, most recently evidenced by the loss of three congressional special elections in the last few months. Furthermore, the most recent polls all show Democrats have a double digit lead in congressional voter preference.
There is a way for the Republican Party to transform the race and ultimately have a strong chance to win the election. And that is by nominating a non-Republican for the second spot to create a fusion ticket that would be based on a centrist, non-partisan approach. Polls show that 60 to 70% of the American electorate is attracted to the idea of the parties offering a non-partisan, results-oriented approach to the nation's seemingly intractable problems. Fortunately for Democrats, the current makeup of the Republican Party suggests that it is highly unlikely that they will follow this potentially game-changing approach.
A quick look at some recent polls shows how uphill a climb Senator McCain faces if he is to emerge victorious.
The Democrats are currently divided and fighting among themselves. Twenty to 25% of Obama and Clinton supporters now say they will defect to McCain if their candidate loses the nomination. But those numbers are likely to change when the Democratic Party, as they inevitably will, consolidates around a nominee. This means that the polls that currently show McCain running very competitively with both Obama and Clinton will almost certainly change for the worse once the Democrats conclude their nominating process.
In a recent Fox News poll, McCain led Obama by three points. However, when voters were asked to choose between two presidential tickets, Obama-Clinton and McCain-Romney, the Obama-Clinton ticket won by six points, at a time when the Democrats appear hopelessly divided. The McCain-Romney ticket is a generic Republican ticket backed by such Republican stalwarts as Karl Rove, and these poll numbers are indicative of how that ticket is likely to fare in the fall general election.
Other polling, which focuses on the parties, demonstrates how big of an advantage the Democratic nominee is likely to have.
In an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll taken at the end of April, voters said they prefer that a Democrat be elected president instead of a Republican this fall by 18 points. A Washington Post/ABC News Poll taken last month shows that by an almost 20-point margin, the electorate would choose a generic Democratic presidential candidate over an unnamed Republican presidential candidate to resolve the situation in Iraq and handle the economy.
Thus, the odds are stacked greatly against a Republican winning the 2008 presidential race. So what can McCain do to win the race?
One compelling option for McCain is to change the nature of the Republican Party and indeed the electoral process in the United States in a way that has not been done in the modern era. Slated to join McCain this weekend is an independent Democrat, Joe Lieberman. The former Democratic vice presidential nominee is a strong supporter of a hawkish foreign policy, a loyal ally to McCain, and as McCain's running mate would allow for a number of arguments that will uniquely empower McCain and the Republicans in the fall elections.
By picking Joe Lieberman, John McCain can do three things he can not otherwise do. First, he runs as a centrist and a maverick, not a mainstream Republican, effectively and finally distancing himself from George Bush and turning the race into a contest between a bipartisan coalition and a more narrow Democratic ticket. This will avoid allowing the race to inevitably become a contest between a partisan Republican and a partisan Democrat -- a contrast that works inexorably to the Republican disadvantage.
Second, choosing Lieberman as his vice president allows McCain to develop a new, centrist ideology, borrowing ideas and principles from both parties. Working in a bipartisan fashion, and advocating and responding to the electorate's desire for change by indicating he will choose a bipartisan cabinet, McCain can take on the serious issues facing our country, such as entitlements, healthcare, our struggling economy and both the war on terror and the war in Iraq.
The Obama candidacy has compellingly proven that voters are attracted to this type of centrist, bipartisan approach, and there is ample survey research that supports this conclusion.
Finally, if McCain selects Lieberman as his vice presidential running mate, he creates a critically important opportunity for America -- the possibility for bipartisan coalitions in the House and the Senate to be forged in a way that will uniquely reassure the American people about what can be achieved in Washington in the future.
To be sure, this idea goes against conventional wisdom. When Karl Rove and other Republican leaders have been asked who McCain should choose as his running mate, they run through a list of prospective choices and conclude that someone like Mitt Romney would make sense, or perhaps Charlie Crist can deliver Florida, or Bobby Jindal can balance McCain's age. I think this conventional approach is wrong for the Republican Party and wrong for the nation.
Let me be clear. This is about more than just choosing a vice presidential running mate. This is about fundamentally altering the nature of the political party system in America, which will redound not only to the short-term benefit of McCain, but also to the long-term benefit of the country.
Thus, selecting Joe Lieberman is not only a smart electoral strategy for John McCain, but a strategy that could potentially transform American politics.
Carly Cooperman contributed to this article.
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Lieberman was indeed a Democrat in a previous life, and he does indeed call himself an Independent today, but in what sense is there any ideological daylight between the Lieberman of today and the Republican orthodoxy?
The idea of a unity or bipartisan ticket doesn't make any sense if the two candidates cannot articulate where they differ on the issues. It's the political equivalent of badge engineering -- McCain's Ford Taurus to Lieberman's Mercury Sable.
"It's the political equivalent of badge engineering -- McCain's Ford Taurus to Lieberman's Mercury Sable." jsarets
WOW! That's a picture perfect analogy, and it clearly shows the flaws in this article's logic. You have to believe that Lieberman is different than McCain idealogically on some major issue, in order to be truly bipartisan. Since they are really the "same car with different labels", there's no ground-breaking or paradigm-shifting going on. He would get more mileage out of choosing Guiliani, because they actually have real political differences.
Which brings the second and most fatal flaw in the article. It assums that Republicans are so strong in their support of McCain, that they would stomach a ticket that essentially waters down the Party's identity. McCain has taken great pains (since he locked up the nomination this Spring), to paint himself as a neo-con in maverick's clothing. Choosing as Democrat, Independent (Lieberman), or even a moderate Republican (Guilianni), would run counter to to his recent claims. That identity confusion will weaken McCain's already tenuous hold on his base, and with him running so close to the edge in the national polls, he can't afford that.
Yep, that's hilarious. A Taurus and a Sable, and they are both Mavericks!
This dimwitted Broderite just doesn't get it. McCain can pick Jesus to be his running mate for all I care. He isn't going to be president and it's not even going to be close. He's 72 years old, he's a Republican, he's running to succeed the worst president in history with the same platform. Class dismissed.
I agree. It won't matter. People do not look at VPs with the same intensity, as they do the Presidential Hopeful. And in this case, McCain has so many short-comings, the VP probably would never be able to make up this.
I can not stand to listen to a grown man whine, and Lieberman whines all the time, drives me crazy. It might be funny to see him lose again with a Republican, but mostly I wish he would go away.I think McCain should pick the gay guy from Florida, Crist.
Yep - that whiny, nasal drawl makes me throw up a little in my mouth whenever I have the misfortune to accidentally see him talking on TV.
Great idea! A McCain/Liberman ticket is destined to fail. Two old warmongers
I'm all for it.
It make more sense for Conservative to take advice from Conservatives than Liberals. Unless Obama wants to take my advice on his VP Pick; Chuck Hagel. McCain doesn't need Liberman as a VP. Joe will campaign vigorously for John and McCain will put him in his Cabinet . McCain will pick a Conservative Governor and that will get him the optimum number of electorall votes.
Probably a few less than Dukakis.
ROTFL!
McCain and Lieberman!!
LMAO!
This would piss off the republican’s base and the democrats are so over Lieberman that they would not care the least. Although, it would allow Lieberman legitimate cover for standing by McCain's side whispering foreign policy and national security answers.
Too funny, damn cant stop ROTFL!
Good idea. I would enjoy seeing Lieberman crushed in the coming land slide.
And McCain-Lieberman gets beaten like a mule by the much more likable and sellable ticket of Obama-Hagel.
What HuffPost reader (other than the crazed, spiteful Hillary supporters who will be praying for a Dem loss in November) wouldn't LOVE to see a McCain-Lieberman vs. Obama-Hagel election?!
"Party politics" would be comepletely off the table. This election would be about exactly ONE issue: foreign policy. And really, just one question: Should the United States "double-down" on the George W. Bush strong-arm
Ok, the GOP will win the pro-war Democrats (mostly just fanatically pro-Israel Jews), while the Dem-topped ticket wins all those moderate Republicans who think we're running our military into the ground and risking our ability to defend ourselves against real threats that could arise at any moment somewhere in the world other than Iraq or Aghanistan. I'll take that trade!
Obama-Hagel in '08!
I am a fanatically pro-Israel Jew who will happily vote for Obama! I was adamantly AGAINST the war. I believe the GOP continues to push Israel to negotiate with terrorists like the PLO-and is stabing Israel in the back just to salvage a foreign policy legacy for Chimpy! The GOP does not give a rat's ass for Israel when oil , not chicken soup, runs the American economy. Israel is just collateral damage for what the GOP is looking to do in the ME!!! And that is to get our hands on as much oil as possible as quickly as possible! You obviously have a shallow mind-set based on your false knowledge of the stereotypical American Jew who is smarter than you think-and surely smarter than YOU!!! I would never voye for a republican even for dog catcher of LUTZ, Fl.!!!!
Oh yeah, quite the ticket Pickled Pigs Feet and Cold Mashed Potatoes! I'm so hungry I could vote against all my/our interests and SETTLE for something I would never think of eating in my normal state.
Its good for this combo that food prices are through the roof, everyone will be too familiar with "making do" and going without...
Bi-partisanship huh? Fantastical thinking Mr. Schoen.
The biggest problem with Liebermann is that he has a different stance than most independents have on the war. Also, John McCain and Joe Liebermann--"The Grumpy Old Men" running together. Now, I don't really believe this age discrimination stuff, but to guys that look that old running for president and vice president? I don't think so.
It's a ludicrous idea in so many ways, including that one.
Not that Edwards is going to be Obama's veep, but just in terms of visuals - imagine McCain and Lieberman on stage together, compared to Obama and Edwards on stage together.
Above and beyond all of the massive policy differences, just consider those visuals. (I'm getting pretty old myself BTW, so I'm not just some young dude being snotty about "oldsters"
My head would explode if America of 2008 decided to vote a McCain/Lieberman ticket into office over an Obama/Edwards ticket (just as an example).
I would love to see Obama pick Edwards as his running mate. With Edwards as VP, America wouldn't lose a step policy-wise if, God forbid, something were to happen to President Obama.
You can have him. The democratic party sure doesn't want him anymore.
The only reason McCain should choose Lieberman for VP would be the comedic value of hearing the rightwingers howl about it.
Other than that, there's no more likelihood of McCain choosing Lieberman than of Obama choosing Chuck Hagel. It just ain't gonna happen.
Oh please, please put Lieberman on McCain's ticket...I suspect he would be as big a drag to the Republicans as he was to Dems...thi
He's that hated...
Lieberman as McCain's VP would be a truly stupid choice and would make his "age" problem even worse. Two old right-wing farts is not going to cut it against a young, dynamic candidate like Obama, or even against Hillary.
This "trial baloon" will go nowhere but down.
Where does one begin?
Oh Please! Let it be true!!!
I can't imagine a better ticket for the democrats!
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