What McCain Defectors See in Obama

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What McCain Defectors See in Obama
By Madison Powers, CQ Guest Columnist

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In short, the rank and file of defectors are not merely the Republican party irregulars who are, in reality, the party regulars of the much maligned Georgetown cocktail circuit. Nor can this phenomenon be explained as some sort of mass, late-life ideological epiphany.

They could have chosen to sit this one out and pin their hopes on regrouping for the next time around, or they could silently cross party lines and go back to their cocktails (in someplace other than Georgetown). But they did not remain silent, and they did not break their silence simply by pronouncing their verdict based on an assessment of the lesser of two evils.

What is most striking about these high-visibility defections is that that overwhelmingly they come with ringing endorsements. They speak to Obama’s skills, abilities, and temperament. Everywhere, except in the occasional tepid endorsement such as the one in the Washington Post, the precipitating factors may be the lead line, but the bulk of these statements is taken up by extraordinary praise for Obama. That cries out for explanation.

The defectors are a mixed lot, but all represent some brand of recognizably conservative thought. Some like Doug Kmiec, Andrew Sullivan, and Ken Adelman are probably conservatives by anyone’s definition, while others are cut partly from an older mold. They bear some resemblance to the moderate Republicanism of the Rockefeller era, but the issues of their time are not the same.

Also, there are the venerable Republican names of Goldwater, Buckley, and Eisenhower who have signed on to Obama’s cause, and while no single one perhaps meets all litmus tests some true believers might want in a conservative, there is an unmistakable family of conservative ideas represented. These include a commitment to greater fiscal responsibility, a distaste for foreign interventionism, and a principled Burkean resistance to aggressive programs of social experimentation.

My hunch is that many conservatives find qualities in Obama that are reassuringly familiar. Obama is the kind of liberal that Burkean conservatives can love. He calls for change, but he does not advertise “bold” change. Conservatives who find an intellectual affinity with classical conservative thinker, Edmund Burke, prefer the Eisenhower type of leadership. They prefer a steady hand, a willingness to depart from tradition in gradual steps. They find most appealing a person with a predilection for sticking with what works, making modifications incrementally, and not rushing out to place large gambles in times when so much is already at stake.

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