McCain refuses one-term pledge, says no need to differentiate himself from Bush Nick Juliano

Published: Thursday August 21, 2008





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While the White House's current resident is perhaps the biggest obstacle to Republican John McCain's hopes to replace him, the GOP's presidential nominee says he feels no need to demonstrate a clear break from George W. Bush.



"I dont have any need to show that Im different than President Bush," McCain told Politico's Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin Wednesday.



In a half-hour exclusive interview with the Politico reporters, McCain went on to offer assurances that if elected he would work more closely with a Democratic Congress than the current president has and seek consensus with political opponents. The offerings sounded familiar to the "uniter not divider" rhetoric Bush offered on the campaign trail in 2000 and abandoned soon after taking office.

First thing Id do [as president] is to go to see the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate  I assume that that would be Sen. Reid, I hope not, but I think thats probably the reality of this election  and I would say lets have an agenda, lets work together, we know what the solutions are and we know what the options are  Social Security, on restraining spending, on Medicare, on all of these, energy independence, on all of these issues, McCain said when asked how his approach to governance and politics would differ from Bush.



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McCain added: Im not being elected dictator  Im being elected president. And you have to work with Congress. And they know the priorities as well as I do.

That last lament from McCain echoed a similar sentiment expressed by then-Gov. Bush after his first meeting with Congress following the Supreme Court's decision to end the Florida re-count in 2000, assuring him the presidency.



"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator," Bush said after telling Congressional leaders he would stick to his campaign trail pledges such as his proposal to cut taxes.



McCain, who opposed the Bush tax cuts when they first were introduced, has since said he would seek to make them permanent. He's moved toward Bush in myriad other ways as well, says blogger Matthew Yglesias.



Look, sure, McCain isnt under any moral obligation to demonstrate difference from President Bush. But if he intends to pursue substantially the same policies as President Bush, then he has no right to react angrily when his political opponents say hell pursue substantially the same policies as President Bush. But he does react angrily. But if hes going to be indignant about the idea that hell pursue Bush-like policies, then he should be able to name some policy areas in which he intends to pursue substantially different policies. But Ive been listening to what McCain says about taxes, about Social Security, about health care, about drilling, about Iraq, etc. and I dont see many areas in which he intends to follow a dramatically different course. And he cant name any such areas either.



In his interview with Politico, Wednesday, McCain also flatly said he was "not considering" a one-term pledge that some have suggested would ease voters' concern over his age.

There has been speculation that McCain, 71, could couple a single term promise with a untraditional running mate such as Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman to make the case that he would shove political interests aside and run a consensus-oriented government with the Democratic-held Congress.

Lieberman is slated to speak on the first night of the Republican National Convention next month, and observers see little prospect that McCain would name the Connecticut senator as his running mate. McCain has said he will announce his vice presidential nominee on Aug. 29, his 72nd birthday.



