John McCain still has a big political problem. Even after giving a nearly pitch-perfect speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference Thursday, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee could generate only mild enthusiasm among the most active foot soldiers of the conservative movement.
Sure, most conservatives know that they will need to vote for the Arizona Republican senator to keep Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., out of the White House.
But many in attendance at CPAC seemed to welcome that necessity no more than they would relish the need to drink about a quart of castor oil. It’s not that they don’t recognize McCain’s bona fides on key conservative issues such as spending restraint and support for the military – bona fides McCain went to great length to emphasize in his speech.
It’s just that that on the many issues where McCain has strayed from conservative orthodoxy, he has often done so with all the grace of the neighborhood bully throwing rocks at his own teammates when they won’t pass him the ball on every play.
A few louts at CPAC even booed at several points during McCain’s address. Most attendees, though (except ones obviously brought in as part of the official campaign team), applauded perfunctorily, but no more than that, when he finished speaking.
Before the speech, veteran American Conservative Union stalwart Don Devine, President Ronald Reagan’s Director at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and long-time political consultant, explained why.
“The Republican Party has not offered any consistent message for a long time,” he said. “It has been clear there wasn’t anybody who could pull the conservative coalition back together, and particularly clear that McCain isn’t going to do that. … In fact, McCain has been very clear: He doesn’t like conservatives and doesn’t understand them, and he doesn’t even understand what conservatives themselves think that conservatism is.”
Nevertheless, McCain made a valiant effort to demonstrate otherwise. Citing example after example, he said: “My record in public office, taken as a whole, is the record of a mainstream conservative.”
He pledged, with emphasis, to veto any bill with any special-interest earmarks in it. He pledged to take no other actions concerning illegal immigrants until achieving a “widespread consensus that our borders are secure.”
And he promised to campaign as a solid conservative against the Democratic nominee, rather than trying to split the differences between him and either Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama – because, he pledged, “this election is going to be about big things,” major differences in philosophical approaches between him and the liberals who want to raise taxes and withdraw from Iraq.
After the speech, Young America’s Foundation President Ron Robinson spoke in measured tones when asked for a reaction. “Sen. McCain is a very astute politician,” he said. “The real test is how he governs.”
“Conservatives understand the tremendous differences between McCain and either Clinton or Obama, and I expect conservatives eventually to back him,” Robinson added. “But he has the potential to be the weakest nominee since Jerry Ford.”
Still, from overheard snatches of murmured conversations in the hallways afterwards, it did appear that McCain made at least a little headway with the assembled crowds.
“This was about as well as he could do,” said one southern conservative, a former Fred Thompson backer with nearly three decades of grassroots activism to his record. Asking that his name not be used, he added, “McCain accomplished his purpose here. The realization set in today that it’s going to be McCain versus the Democrats in the general election, and that mentally people are crossing that line to accepting him.”
But, perceptively, the activist laid out the remaining challenge: “Now McCain’s responsibility is to duplicate this effort with the millions of conservatives who were not in the room.”
Quin Hillyer is associate editorial page editor of the Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected].
