GOP Adviser Says McCain Is "Modest" Change

Political Players: Former Reagan Chief Of Staff Ken Duberstein Says McCain Can Overcome Challenges

(CBS)  Political Players is a weekly conversation with the leaders, consultants, and activists who shape American politics. This week, CBS News' Brian Goldsmith talked with former Reagan Chief of Staff Ken Duberstein about the challenge facing Republicans this year--and whether Senator McCain can overcome concerns about his age, and match the public mood for change.

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CBSNews.com: Senator McCain is leading a delegation next week to Europe and the Middle East. Many Republicans have argued that it's more important for him to show passion about domestic issues than to go on another foreign trip. What do you think?

Ken Duberstein: I think it is always important for the candidate for president of the United States to demonstrate an absolute proficiency with national security and foreign policy. First and foremost, the president of the United States is there to protect and preserve the United States and its citizens.

I think this reinforces the image of John McCain, not only with gravitas, but as the foreign policy/national security adult in this contest for the presidency. I think there's ample time for John McCain to talk about his vision for the future that is fundamentally about the economy.

Because after all, what Americans vote for--first and foremost--is their pocketbook. What's in it, or what they wish were in it. And John McCain will have to spend lots of time this spring, summer and autumn talking about his plans for the economy. His plans on housing and job growth and job creation and health care.

CBSNews.com: Obviously, change is the watch word this election season. What kind of change does McCain offer after President Bush?

Ken Duberstein: Well, I think that every election is a change election. The question is whether it is radical change or incremental change. You know, when Ronald Reagan was succeeded by George Herbert Walker Bush, he emphasized being a kinder, gentler president as a way to distinguish the change.

What John McCain is going to do, I think, is offer incremental change--not only on national security and foreign policy, but also on the domestic side, and stress the importance of job creation, the importance of the private sector, the importance of tax cuts.

And that the White House under John McCain can do a much better job on withholding federal spending. With John McCain you are not getting a 180 degree turn. But you are getting some modest adjustments, some refinements, some fine-tuning of what has happened in the previous eight years.

CBSNews.com: The only time, since World War II, that a party has won a third consecutive term in the White House was actually while you were chief of staff in 1988. What do you think the Bush administration could do to be most supportive of the McCain campaign?

Ken Duberstein: I think the Bush White House has to ask the McCain people what they want, first and foremost, from Bush. I assume it is to govern well. I think the idea of using George Bush to raise money for the Republican Party is a healthy, productive way to employ George W. Bush on the campaign trial this summer and this autumn.

But I do not expect that you're going to see an awful lot of John McCain and George Bush campaigning shoulder to shoulder. This is John McCain's election. This isn't George Bush's election. Elections are about the future, not simply about the past.

CBSNews.com: Now you were a McCain supporter in 2000. You were neutral this year. Is there a concern that the American people perceive him as too old for the job? And how can he counter that?

Ken Duberstein: Well, all I would say to you is John McCain, he may be 71, but he is as vigorous as a 40 year old. He is nonstop and makes those of us who are younger than he tired from the kind of pace that he keeps up. The last thing I am worried about is John McCain's health or his stamina.

I think he is in superb shape. And, you know, when Ronald Reagan was running for reelection in 1984, Mondale threatened to talk about his age. And Ronald Reagan, in that famous line in the debate, said that he was not going to exploit Mondale's youth and inexperience as issues in the campaign.

CBSNews.com: It’s pretty clear that primary campaign turnout has little or no bearing on general election outcomes. But the Democratic excitement this year, the record-setting turnouts all over the country, must concern you as a Republican.

[greatdrivew]

McCain = pandering to special interests
Obama = no pandering to special interests

McCain = politics of influence and fear
Obama = politics of dialogue and change

McCain = popular votes received in primaries in OH [636,256], TX [709,477] & WI [224,226]
Obama = popular votes received in primaries in OH [979,025], TX [1,358,785] & WI [646,007]

McCain = other than Bush%u2019s plans, no plan for the economy
Obama = stimulate economy via targeted domestic investment and middle-class tax cuts

McCain = war
Obama = no war

McCain = permanent military bases in Iraq
Obama = no permanent military bases in Iraq

McCain = tax dollars go to military and war
Obama = tax dollars go to health, education & infrastructure

McCain = continue with Bush%u2019s tax breaks for the wealthy
Obama = ensure tax cuts for the working middle class

McCain = What, NAFTA rewards slave labor? Oh well, get over it, Michigan!!
Obama = renegotiate NAFTA to include enforceable labor and environmental standards.

McCain = pathway to citizenship
Obama = pathway to citizenship

McCain = %u201CBomb, bomb, bomb . . . bomb, bomb Iran.%u201D
Obama = diplomacy, reason and sanity . . . not war, death and destruction [see above].

McCain = viewed internationally as an extension of Bush, Cheney and the disgraced neocons
Obama = a natural born diplomat

McCain = lame duck from the start
Obama = living history

McCain = last-ditch candidate of a terminally corrupted party
Obama = the future

[grazinggoat]

CBS NEWS: ''Ken Duberstein: And that the White House under John McCain can do a much better job on withholding federal spending. With John McCain you are not getting a 180 degree turn. But you are getting some modest adjustments, some refinements, some fine-tuning of what has happened in the previous eight years.''

-In other words: the same fricking thing. Piggy Duberstein, America needs a 180 degree turn. Such a pig!

[jonesforch]

MCCain just make sure you do not have a spirtual advisor spouting..and your not in the all Americans *** ring of the year. But can you bake cookies?

[blkpresident]

Word on the street is that OLD man Mccain is ducking Obama and hiding behind Hillary''s apron.

[hissteps4u]

McCains age is not the issue his Inability to effect change is. Few people care about the Pork Barrel crapola.The real issue is reform of Government and McCain quite frankly is not the man for the Job.

I am a Life Long Republican and wont be voting for him but voting for Obama.

I ont follow Party Line but vote for the Best person for the JOB AND McCain n all truth wont stand a chance against Obama.

Now against Clinton he has a fighting chance but will loose against Obama.

[sandyshores10]

I still love romney i wonder how long mcinsain the old fool will live. i dont see him as a republican at all he wants to be a democrat and take our freedome away and he wants to love up on the illegals rather then worry about the taxpayer go ahead say it mccain youre a democrat

[terrapin78]

Want 4 more years of the same BS?

Vote John Bu$h McCain.

[sandyshores10]

in the first place demogogers all of the tax raises have been forced through by your friends the demohogs. everytime bush trys to fund our beloved troops they are their with their money grubing theiving hands out. Think about it i dont need to pay for the bs global warming lie and pay for carbon tickets all the democrats want to do is spend spend spend. while at least the republicans want to protect the usa citizen reality check john is a democrat dont he want the same thing you do let the illegals get a free pass in the usa? i know we pay all the taxes all our lives yet we have to unfairly compete with these blood sucking leaches. i can see how you think you welfare cases let the tax payer pay till they to have to go on welfare

[gkc99]

"But I do not expect that you''re going to see an awful lot of John McCain and George Bush campaigning shoulder to shoulder. This is John McCain''s election. This isn''t George Bush''s election. Elections are about the future, not simply about the past. "--Duberstein.


Yes, if there''s anything the Repugs would like us to forget about, it''s the past. The recent past. The past of the George Bushit administration, and everything his Repug lackeys have done to make America a banana republic.

Too bad for the Repugs that even Americans don''t have memories THAT short.

The Repugs are running on the legacy of Darth and Curious George. Like it or not.

And McBushit doesn''t offer much more.

[walt1944-2009]

The Great Emperor Bush II intends on leaving the state of the country in the USSA in such disrepair that it would take a series of miracles to repair all the damage 8 years of "Bushism" have caused.

The Great Emperor Bush simply intends on leaving the country as goofed up as he possibly can make it, then getting as far away from Washington as fast as he can and watching his successsor, Whimpo-crat male or female, try to fix all the things he has screwed up. The Great Emperor has already given up on trying to create a legacy for himself, since he is confident that the right-wing, neocon Fascist Nazi talk show hosts on conservative radio and at Fox News will "create" a magnificent legacy for him!

And if John "the Great Pretender" McCain becomes the occupant of the throne in the Oval Office, the Great Emperor is confident that McCain will hammer down the nails in the coffin containing the Bill of Rights and the Constitution, which the Great Emperor and VP Darth Vader Cheney placed there after 9/11!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!
sig heil, McCain????

[briannorwood]

If you like George W. Bush, you''re gonna LOVE John McCain!

[blackwater66-2009]

Hope he picks a young military minded person as his VP (if there is one). He really is too old for this type job. I do like him so and he means well, but he flip flops quite alot. I don''t trust no one that does that. At least GW stayed the course and didn''t bend or waver, he did what he said he would do and still does !!, but we need someone younger.
No world for old men ~~

[armydog2]

in other words no change whatsoever to what bush has set in play. the wannabe thinks he will win. pretty funny.

[homespunlady]

LOVE the article.
In SHORT if McCain gets in he''ll play McBush Lite as the US plays TITANIC!!!

SIDESTEPPING THE ECONOMY he''s going on ANOTHER FOREIGN TRIP - probably to check on those HALLIBURTON OFFICES in the Middle East and enjoy all those LUXURY things GEORGE got when HE visited his SAUDI "good friends - you kn now the ones DUMPING THE DOLLAR and CHARGING $110 per barrel of their American LIFEBLOOD.

TOO BAD GEORGE DESTROYED ALL our efforts at ALTERNATE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT.

BUT DON''T WORRY King George HAS already stated HE''S going to "KICKBACK" and ENJOY the FRUITS of his labor after he''s out.
TOO BAD THOSE "FRUITS" will be falling from the SAME COUNTRY that GAVE BIRTH TO BIN LADEN!!!!

McBush Lite - MORE WAR, MORE POVERTY, LESS HEALTH CARE, MORE PRISONS and SLAVE LABOR, MORE FAT-CAT LOBBYISTS, MORE DEATH AND INJURY to our TROOPS, MORE NEGLECT when they come HOME, MORE INFRASTRUCTURE FAILURE, MORE MONEY FOR THE ELITE and MORE MISERY FOR THE REST OF US!!!!

THE ONLY REPUBLICAN - or politician for that matter THAT MIGHT have turned the upcoming CRISIS, DEPRESSION and FEUDALISM around is CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL. At least HE''S NOT IGNORING the ECONOMIC CRISIS!!!

NEOCONS - I spit on them - heartless, selfish narcissistic, hedonistic, perverted ELITISTS!

[jack3213]

JUST A FEW REMINDERS OF THE CLINTONSD DISGRACE AND HOW WE SHOULD NOT CONSIDER HER: As they departed the White House, the Clintons left with furniture, lamps, prints and other items totaling $28,000. After an enormous public outcry, the former first grifters returned this truckload of public property swiped from the Executive Mansion. For his part, William Jefferson Clinton successfully perjured himself in the Paula Jones sexual-harassment lawsuit.Long-subpoenaed billing records from Hillary Clinton''s days at Little Rock''s Rose Law Firm magically materialized at the White House in January 1996 -- just four days after a statute of limitations expired, thus sparing her from potential civil liability for advising Madison Guaranty, a failed bank whose collapse cost taxpayers $60 million.Today, Hillary Clinton''s tax returns remain concealed, while Barack Obama released his. How did she "loan" her campaign $5 million in January? Voters need such answers now, not after Election Day, especially since Bill Clinton''''s speech and business income enhances their combined wealth. After White House Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster died from a gunshot to the head in Fort Marcy Park near Washington in July 1993, his office should have remained sealed for forensic purposes. Yet, two days later, the Clintons'' personal financial records are temporarily kept in a locked closet in the White House residence. YOU WANT CHANGE, CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTION.

[mcvet]

Yep everyone rush right out and vote for McSame. Just think MORE War, MORE Deficit''s, MORE Debt, MORE jobs overseas... wow what MORE can you want? ROFLMAO Sieg Heil Bush