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Over at the Motherblog, Tim Fernholz reveals that he is new to the ways of the punditry. Reading through a Marc Ambinder post that lauds McCain's bipartisan apostasies as more courageous than Obama's bipartisan initiatives, Fernholz wonders, "I'm not sure why this brave but incoherent bipartisanship is so highly valued. Isn't a good politician one who works with the opposition to achieve their own ends? Obama appears relatively skilled at convincing conservatives to support a liberal policy agenda, while McCain seems good at gracefully conceding to liberal priorities in such away that he looks tough and independent."It's an odd quirk of DC that being an independent" or "courageous" legislator is considered more important than being an effective legislative tactician (which you could certainly argue McCain is). It's even odder that a Senator whose every act of apostasy has put him firmly on the side of media and elite opinion has developed a reputation for courage rather than opportunism. But there it is. As Paul Waldman writes:
why exactly is it that going against your party is "courageous"? It's courageous if your goal is to rise within your party to become, say, Senate Minority Leader. But that was never McCain's goal. If your goal is to become president, as McCain's has always been, then there is a relatively minor cost to bucking your party - you might have some trouble picking up future endorsements, for instance. But there are much more substantial benefits to be gained.McCain certainly knows that when he votes with Democrats, he will be almost guaranteed to earn the admiration of the press, which worships "rebels." He also knows that unlike other members of the Senate who actually buck their party much more often than he does (Ben Nelson, Olympia Snowe, etc.), when he crosses the aisle he will become the starring player in the story the press will write. Instead of a conflict between Democrats and Republicans, it becomes a conflict between Republicans and the courageous rebel John McCain, complete with interviews on the Sunday shows.Finally, if you look at the instances in which McCain has bucked his party, in nearly every case it has been when his party was on the wrong side of public opinion. So he's doing the popular thing, winning the praise of his primary constituency (the press), ensuring a wave of positive media coverage, and reinforcing his "maverick" brand. Yeah, that sure takes guts.McCain, incidentally, has done nothing wrong here. He's made some good moves, come out on the right side of some big issues, and even helped pass some genuinely useful legislation. But what sets him apart isn't courage. Ben Nelson, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and a variety of others are, by that definition, much more courageous. Rather, what sets him apart has been an exquisitely sensitive political antennae that lets McCain quickly identify spaces where the storyline is hungry for a dealmaker, and a weird partnership with the media where they've become comfortable fitting him into that role.
