Profile: John McCain

John McCain is currently the front-runner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Last night he won the significant states of California and New York. He also won Delaware, which often predicts the candidate who will get the nomination.

Foreign policy

At 71, McCain is the oldest candidate running this year. If he wins, he could become the oldest president sworn in for a first term. He is a Vietnam veteran who survived five years as a prisoner of war, and his campaign has focused particularly on issues of foreign policy and military affairs.

He is one of the Iraq war’s strongest supporters and has backed the troop increase. Yet he described former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld as “one of the worst in history” and has hit out at the Bush administration’s handling of the conflict.

Perhaps because of his experiences as a prisoner of war, McCain has voiced strong opposition to extraordinary rendition – the transporting of terror suspects to secret prisons in countries with less stringent interrogation rules – and the use of torture. He has successfully sponsored legislation banning the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of terror suspects.

The economy

McCain is not afraid to voice opposition to the Republican administration’s domestic policy. He criticised President Bush’s tax cut plans, stating that he could not support a policy which would benefit the wealthiest in society at the expense of the middle classes. He describes himself as a fiscal conservative, who believes in a balanced budget.

Social issues

McCain has angered many social Conservatives by his relatively moderate views on immigration reform. His view that undocumented workers already in the US should be put on the path to citizenship is not in line with that of many of his fellow Republicans.

He also has an uneasy relationship with the religious right. McCain is an opponent of abortion rights, but supports research on human embryos left over from fertility treatments. He also supports same-sex civil unions, but not same-sex marriage.

In a recent interview, McCain said he agreed with the view – held by a majority of Americans – that the constitution establishes the US as a Christian nation. However, he added that the US does not only welcome Christians, “We welcome the poor, the tired, the huddled masses. But when they come here they know that they are in a nation founded on Christian principles.”

He says he has a deep faith in God, but ultimately prefers to treat his faith as a personal matter.

Climate change

Perhaps his biggest difference with the Bush administration is over climate change. McCain says he would sign up to a new treaty on climate change, providing that India and China were also included. He co-sponsored Democrat legislation to introduce carbon trading and binding carbon dioxide targets with independent Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman.

‘Right wing has highjacked religion’

Barack Obama who is running for the Democrat nomination as Presidential candidate in the 2008 election has said that the powerful religious right has exploited its stance on abortion, same sex marriage and creationism to attack the Democrat Party.  Making a speech to a church convention Obama said that the religious right has used religion to ‘drive people apart.’ Obama also suggested that the religious right had promoted issues such as abortion, gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design, together with tax cuts and oppostion to gun control, ‘I don’t know what bible they’re reading but it doesn’t match my version.’ Instead Obama emphasised teachings on social justice, tolerance and tackling issues such as poverty.  Obama and his rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, are among the most religiously devout of all the potential candidates and Obama clearly wants to win back the relgious constituency from the Republican Party.