I was listening to a little of Michael Medved on my way to school this afternoon. He had Joe Lieberman on and then was talking about how John McCain’s crossover appeal is something that Reagan had and is important for an electable president and for the party generally. I figure most of you have an opinion of Michael Medved these days (as do I), but I wanted to talk about crossover appeal and how it is achieved.

Medved is right that John McCain’s candidacy appeals to independents and some Democrats. I think that the election results so far bear this out. However, is John McCain’s type of crossover appeal the type that we are looking for? McCain’s appeal to independents and Democrats comes not by moving them to the right, but by McCain moving to the left. This is a key distinction between the type of appeal that Ronald Reagan hand and what John McCain has. Reagan was able to persuade Democrats to move to the right. Especially on economic matters, Reagan ushered in conservative economics by persuading them on his ideas. Additionally he was able to persuade a Democratic Congress to build up the military less than a decade after the end of the Vietnam War.

McCain, on the other hand, has crossover appeal because of his moves left on key issues. McCain has been the one persuaded and not the one persuading on issues such as immigration, interrogation techniques, campaign finance reform (and the First Amendment generally), global warming, and taxes. McCain’s type of appeal to Democrats does not move the discussion to the right, but moves it to the left. He cedes ground on these issues and moves the country in a less conservative direction, not a more conservative direction. This type of appeal is not the type of crossover appeal that I am looking for in a presidential candidate, and I suspect a similar sentiment from many of you.

I want a president that can move the country to the right. This is going to happen not through ceding ground to more liberal thoughts, but through persuasion that conservative ideas will improve this country. McCain is not that type of man. He has been the crossover leader on bills that have moved the country left (McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Feingold, etc.). This is classic Washington compromise and not leadership. Even recognizing McCain's advocacy for the surge, the net effect of his tenure has been to move the country to the left.

Mitt Romney is the type of conservative leader that can move the country right. He was able to persuade an overwhelmingly liberal legislature that his state needed tax cuts, that his state needed fiscal restraint, that his state could provide healthcare to its citizens through market-based reforms, and that his state could improve education through charter schools and merit-based teacher pay. All these changes moved the discussion in a conservative direction. This is the type of crossover appeal that I am looking for.

Labels: John McCain