Dear Senator McCain:
I voted for you only because I couldn’t stomach the way-too-slick (and probably very corrupt) Arkansasan, the “conservative” who would probably say Massachusetts likes him because of his “conservatism,” and the rich nutcase with the support of white supremacists and Truthers everywhere.
I’m not very happy right now.
The main thing that’s irritating me is the amount of support you’re getting from those in the Republican party who don’t like Bush. I’ve outlined the reasons why I think the President is more than competent here, but have not explained the main difference between you and the current President, the one that most people in the Party and around the world aren’t going to understand.
The President is an incredibly smart man who is fairly effective in a lightning rod of a position. You’re going to have to take my word for this, because the paper on Bush’s electorate building by Andrew E. Busch I can’t find online anywhere. But I think you can reconstruct the case, especially if you consider his foreign policy less reactive than it is made out to be. You can also pay attention to the fact that President Bush had a plan to try and get conservatives a more lasting involvement in government: I have no doubt that compassionate conservatism was aimed at showing conservative ideas better people’s lives. While his education policy can be criticized, it is something he paid serious attention to. And I have mentioned his pre-9/11 ideas for trimming down the military and maximizing its effectiveness, and I thought that wasn’t a bad idea at all.
In short: President Bush isn’t some drooling idiot like your supporters, and perhaps even you, think him to be. He’s someone who tried to advance some rather innovative ideas policy wise. He had a vision for his Party and for his country. In terms of getting a conservative base energized and active and voting, he’s a genius.
You’ve had two years – two years – to run for President and you might barely get this nomination.
I know, I’m being extremely harsh to a war hero, and I am gonna get clobbered for this. But make no mistake – this needs to be said, and you’re getting plenty of praise and passes from the press in other areas. If I could vote for W. again, I would. And distancing yourself from him and the potential yet to be realized in conservative ideas is not going to make me happy.
The main reason why I voted for you is that you will stay the course where we have made commitments and hopefully keep us safe from foreign threats. I voted for you because I’m scared of a President that might hesitate when threatened. I’m betting your liberal tendencies don’t extend as far as compromising our security.
But that campaign finance thing alone scares the living daylights out of me. Just because the Supreme Court let it go doesn’t mean it wasn’t a violation of Equal Protection and the First Amendment. As someone remarked when you and Senator Feingold were first advancing it, didn’t you realize that all of us are bound to special interests, that you can’t fix how we relate to politicians fundamentally?
I contrast this sort of micromanagement via legislation with President’s Bush’s biggest virtue, a lack of wanting to micromanage. He would rather delegate.
And that brings me to the most important point – if there’s one thing to really admire about W., it’s that he believes Americans should be free. He’s not worried about “straight talk” or an “iron triangle of corporations, lobbyists and Senators.” He was willing to play the cards dealt by the way we’ve organized ourselves, and his track record is ultimately mixed because the future of conservatism is very much in question. That’s not President Bush’s fault – as I’ve said before, one ideology can’t be allowed to take over every single school unchallenged if we want diverse and thoughtful political engagement.
If you want my full support, and not just my vote, you can start by being more like W. Feel free to cater to us conservatives, please – tax cuts and defense spending and elimination of useless bureaucracy (which W. probably should have encouraged) give us time to do what we’re trying to do everyday: achieve success in our private lives while making the country better.
Sincerely,
Ashok