One Reagan quote, one phone call

Wayne Barrett
Columnist

January 22, 2008 03:07 am

— In assessing whom to support with my vote in the upcoming primary for the presidential nomination, I find myself in the agreeable position of being comfortable with several of the candidates.
In other words, I believe that I am indeed seeking to determine who, from my perspective, is the best candidate, as opposed to who is the only good or acceptable candidate.
This does not mean that I don’t care who wins, or that I don’t have strong opinions. But at this point the primaries could go one of several ways, and I would not feel that all was lost even if my chosen candidate did not prevail.
Helping me in this regard is a quote attributed to Reagan that that person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally, not a 20 percent traitor.
I consider this to be a good principle to remember. If one’s standard for peace of mind with a candidate is 100 percent agreement on all issues, that is a rather high standard. And I daresay no candidate really ever meets it.
All right then, Wayne, what about insisting on 100 percent agreement on all major issues? Well, depending upon what one defines as major issues, that might be more realistic. But even then, life is not that simple. How do skills and leadership figure into this matrix of decision making?
For example, what if a strong experienced candidate who shows promise for actually effecting his positions but who disagrees with you on one of your major issues is opposed by a less-experienced, weaker candidate who agrees with you on all of your major issues, but who is not likely successfully to promote any of them?
Remember, we are not electing a person whom we expect to cast votes in a certain way. The president is the one-person executive branch of our government. The president must be able to lead, be able to represent our nation in ways unique to the presidency, and be a skilled decision maker. Presidents don’t vote. They decide. And they persuade.
Yes, but what if the one area of disagreement is one of such importance, that for a candidate not to share it makes it impossible to support him?
Well, you have just answered your own question. So scratch him. Move on to other candidates. But there are two things you may want to pause and consider before you do. Aside from a candidate’s stated position on said one issue, what do you think he will actually do or be able to do in respect to it?
And secondly, what will you do in the general election if neither candidate shares your view on this issue? Refuse to vote? Or weigh everything out and do the best you can?
All or nothing is just not a very viable political methodology.
In addition to Reagan’s principle, there is another test I have been applying in my considerations. The basis for this test is that I believe, in spite of every domestic challenge we face, the greatest challenge facing our country and the next president will continue to be national security and in particular dealing with militant Islamic extremists, whether terrorists groups or nations. I also believe that there are some non-Islamic nations that we had better be very concerned about from this standpoint. Naturally, there are some who deny this danger.
They may also believe that the former Soviet Union’s leaders only wanted peace, and perhaps they feel that Castro has just been great for Cuba.
So if you do not agree with me, this test will not mean much to you, but I will share it for the others. Imagine that a military crisis has just occurred. An incident in our country or in another part of the world.
An incident, like 9-11 or like Pearl Harbor, in which the United States must respond and do so immediately. And now imagine that you — yes you — have to make the decisions about what to do. The country is waiting on your word. One more thing. You get one phone call. You get to call one and only one of the candidates who is running for the nomination for president.
You will be able to get counsel from that person and you will also be allowed to have that person help you in the coming days as the country responds and organizes for further action.
Who would you call?