McCain Can Play Maverick Again
As we wait and wonder about the accuracy of reports that Hillary Clinton will accept the top job at the State Department, the news about John McCain is more definitive: he left his meeting with Barack Obama without an employment offer. Good thing he kept his day job.
Why the meeting? It's good press for both of them. Obama looks bipartisan, McCain gets a chance to repair his tarnished reputation by pledging to work with the president he helped elect. And this:
Even with the enlarged Democratic Senate majority and smiling Harry Reid attempting to herd them, Obama is gonna need some Republican help with his ambitious program there. And who better to work with than the ex-Republican presidential candidate untrusted and abandoned by so many of his own party's base?
Unfettered by enforced loyalty to a Republican president, McCain can go back to being a maverick. And why not? He'll soon be on his way to genteel retirement. He might as well have some mavericky fun along the way. If Obama is looking for Republican filibuster busters, McCain might be one of several options. [more ...]
It's easy to be magnanimous when you're the winner. Easy for Democrats, anyway. Obama did the right thing by reaching out to McCain so quickly. And as easy as it is to detest Joe Lieberman for (among many other reasons) his vigorous support of McCain's candidacy, it was smart of Obama to urge his party's senators to continue caucusing with Lieberman. Obama did Lieberman a favor, and he has the right to expect a favor in return. If Obama ever needs Lieberman to help him twist McCain's arm, he can remind Lieberman of debts come due.
McCain will not be Obama's only option if he needs Republican support. Maine's Republican senators and New Hampshire's Judd Gregg in the blue northeast have political incentives to be both moderate and bipartisan. Arlen Specter craves attention, likes to feel important, and probably resents the humiliating slap his party gave him when he attempted to think independently. Any Republican running for reelection in 2010 (particularly in the new-blue states of Ohio, Iowa, Florida, and North Carolina) has to worry about the political impact of being labeled an obstructionist. No matter the outcome of the Senate's open races in Alaska, Georgia, and Minnesota, Obama should be able to overcome most filibusters during his first two years in office.
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