John McCain

ASP in the News May 3-5

Faith Smith — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:48:00 -0400

Tehran Times (05/03) quotes Flynt Leverett on UN sanctions and Iran's energy contracts.
Foreign Policy (05/02) features Steve Coll and Peter Bergen discussing Bin Laden.
Russia Profile (04/30) cites Anatol Lieven on the future of US-Russia relations.

Campaign Watch: An Early Ed Agenda John McCain Could Love?

Sara Mead — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:41:00 -0400

We've spent a lot of time over the past two weeks talking about the Democratic presidential candidates' early education agendas, so today we're going to devote some time to the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain. So far, McCain hasn't said much about education issues, and hasn't offered any sort of education policy agenda. That's hardly surprising, as McCain has never been particularly involved on education issues in the Senate, and education issues were not a major issue in the Republican primary campaign. Richard Whitmire reports that McCain's advisors are about to start unrolling a series of education proposals-but predicts they won't include a significant early education component.

There are lots of good reasons for McCain's advisors to incorporate an early education component in the education agenda they're formulating. For starters, it would be counterintuitive, and it would also help cast a more positive light on some of the areas where McCain is weaker.

Further, it's probably easier for Republican politicians to support innovative ideas on early education than on K-12 reform right now. Conventional wisdom within the pundit class holds that teachers unions make it difficult for Democrats to advance compelling school reform ideas. But the politics of school reform are equally fraught for many Republicans. The conservative base loathes NCLB with a passion to rival that of the most strident teacher unionist and strongly opposes any expansion of the feds' role in schooling. Moderate Republicans know that the suburban parents they represent aren't thrilled by NCLB or reforms that might shake up a status quo that works pretty well for them now. And, as the Sol Stern controversy demonstrates, the conservative constituency for education reform is increasingly divided between choice-niks who think vouchers are the only answer, and devotees of curricular reform. In other words, for a politician who's never evinced a particular passion for education issues, the waters can't look too appealing in K-12 reform.

Early education looks much more favorable. Because we have a diverse delivery system in early education, new early education investments can flow to a variety of providers-including private schools, for-profit providers, and faith-based organizations-not just the existing public school system. Economic arguments have convinced leading business conservatives, such as CED president Charles Kolb, to support early education. And Republican governors, such as Bob Riley in Alabama or former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in Arkansas, have been leaders in fighting to expand pre-k funding at the state level.

To be sure, fiscal conservatives, including McCain, are unlikely to embrace large federal universal pre-k programs. But there are plenty of things that McCain-or other candidates-could propose to improve early education without huge new expenditures. Last fall we released 10 low- or no-cost proposals to improve early education in the No Child Left Behind Act. We've thought of a few more early education ideas that might fit in well with a McCain education agenda:

Provide pre-k for children of active duty military personnel: Today, in our all-volunteer, professional military, more than 40 percent of active duty service members have children-and 40 percent of those children are under age five. The military has created an impressive system to provide high-quality childcare for children whose parents serve in the military. But military preschoolers should also have access to high-quality pre-k aligned with early elementary programs-something many currently don't get, or have only sporadically due to high mobility and differing state pre-k eligibility criteria. Both Texas and Kansas have policies that make children from military families eligible for publicly funded pre-k, and Maryland is considering similar legislation. Senator McCain could encourage more states to do the same by offering one-to-one matching grants to states that expand pre-k programs to serve children from military families. This investment would support quality education for military children and complement the military's current investments in childcare, and might cost around $500 million annually.

Support charter schools that provide high-quality pre-k: Charter schools can play a valuable role in delivering high-quality, aligned early education programs in diverse settings. Senator McCain's education advisor, Lisa Graham Keegan, supports charter schools, and his home state of Arizona has the highest percentage of students in charter schools in the country. So it would seem natural for McCain to promote charter schooling as a strategy for improving early education and expanding access to pre-kindergarten. McCain could propose policies to expand the number of early education charter schools by: amending the federal charter schools program to support pre-k charter schools, encouraging states to remove barriers that prevent charter schools from offering pre-k, and requiring the Secretaries of Education and Health and Human Services to work together to help charter schools access federal funding streams for child care and early education.

Support parent choice in early education: Senator McCain supports greater parent choice in K-12 education. Parents already have a diverse array of choices in early education-but they often have trouble finding good information to help them make the best choice for their child. A growing number of states are creating online resources that provide parents with lists of childcare providers in their area, as well as access to quality ratings, inspection records, and other information to help them judge the quality of providers. And the privately operated Savvy Source for Parents offers profiles of local pre-k providers to help parents make informed choices. Senator McCain could support parent choice in early education by offering grants to states and private groups to create or improve online resources that help parents access reliable information about the quality of child care and early education providers.

Expand programs for preschoolers, toddlers, and infants with disabilities: In the Senate, McCain has voted on multiple occasions for full funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. IDEA provides grants to local school districts to help with the costs of educating school-aged students with disabilities. But it also includes programs to serve infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities. These programs are important, because early intervention is key to helping children with disabilities-especially those with severe disabilities such as autism-meet their full potential. Senator McCain could propose to expand these programs and also to allow states to use up to 15 percent of funding from them to provide preventive services for young children who have not yet been identified with a disability, but are at high risk for one-something IDEA already allows school districts to do with funds they receive for school-age students. We could expand these programs substantially for relatively modest amounts of money, and the investment could ultimately save money by supporting early interventions that reduce the need for more costly services later on.

Create high-quality alternative certification models for pre-k teachers: Whitmire notes that McCain supports Teach for America, which recruits talented recent college graduates to work in high-poverty schools. McCain could support a Teach for America-like initiative to expand the supply of high-quality preschool and early childhood education teachers. As states across the country expand universal pre-k programs and raise quality standards for them, many are facing difficulties in recruiting qualified teachers. Many experienced early educators have valuable skills but lack formal credentials. In order to keep these individuals in the classroom, build their knowledge and skills, and ensure and adequate supply of high-quality early educators, we need new, streamlined models of early educator training that focus on developing the skills and knowledge research has shown affect young children's learning. Supporting the creation and expansion of alternate route programs-such as Teach for America-for pre-k teachers would be a great way for McCain to support states' efforts to improve early education.

These are just a few, relatively low-cost proposals for things that conservative candidates and legislators could support to improve early education. Stay tuned for more coverage of early education in the election as campaign 2008 continues.

Photo of John McCain by flickr user PaisleyPitbull, used under a Creative Commons license.

What Would John McCain Do?

Patrick Doherty — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:58:00 -0400

Is it possible that the next inhabitant of the White House might make the world wistful for the foreign policy of George W. Bush? Until recently, that possibility was reserved for a scenario that involved a nuclear device lighting off in an American city. In his recent Financial Times op-ed, New America Senior Research Fellow Anatol Lieven looks at McCain's policies and advisors and ultimately finds common ground with Pat Buchanan, who recently said McCain is going to make "Cheney look like Gandhi."

Why we should fear a McCain presidency

By Anatol Lieven | March 24, 2008

It may seem incredible to say this, given past experience, but a few years from now Europe and the world could be looking back at the Bush administration with nostalgia. This possibility will arise if the US elects Senator John McCain as president in November.

Over the years the US has inserted itself into potential flashpoints in different parts of the world. The Republican party is now about to put forward a natural incendiary as the man to deal with those flashpoints.

The problem that Mr McCain poses stems from his ideology, his policies and above all his personality. His ideology, like that of his chief advisers, is neo-conservative. In the past, Mr McCain was considered to be an old-style conservative realist. Today, the role of the realists on his team is merely decorative.

Driven in part by his intense commitment to the Iraq war, Mr McCain has relied more on neo-conservatives such as his close friend William Kristol, the Weekly Standard editor. His chief foreign policy advisor is Randy Scheunemann, another leading neo-conservative and a founder of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq. Mr McCain shares their belief in what Mr Kristol has called “national greatness conservatism”. In 1999, Mr McCain declared: “The US is the indispensable nation because we have proven to be the greatest force for good in human history . . . We have every intention of continuing to use our primacy in world affairs for humanity’s benefit.”

Mr McCain’s promises, during last week’s visit to London, to listen more to America’s European allies, need to be taken with a giant pinch of salt. There is, in fact, no evidence that he would be prepared to alter any important US policy at Europe’s request.

Reflecting the neo-conservative programme of spreading democracy by force, Mr McCain declared in 2000: “I’d institute a policy that I call ‘rogue state rollback’. I would arm, train, equip, both from without and from within, forces that would eventually overthrow the governments and install free and democratically elected governments.” Mr McCain advocates attacking Iran if necessary in order to prevent it developing nuclear weapons, and last year was filmed singing “Bomb, bomb Iran” to the tune of the Beach Boys’ “Barbara Ann”.

Mr McCain suffers from more than the usual degree of US establishment hatred of Russia, coupled with a particular degree of sympathy for Georgia and the restoration of Georgian rule over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He advocates the expulsion of Russia from the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations and, like Mr Scheunemann, is a strong supporter of early Nato membership for Georgia and Ukraine. Mr Scheunemann has accused even Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, of “appeasement” of Russia. Nato expansion exemplifies the potential of a McCain presidency. Apart from the threat of Russian reprisals, if the Georgians thought that in a war they could rely on US support, they might be tempted to start one. A McCain presidency would give them good reason to have faith in US support.

Mr McCain’s policies would not be so worrying were it not for his notorious quickness to fury in the face of perceived insults to himself or his country. Even Thad Cochran, a fellow Republican senator, has said: “I certainly know no other president since I’ve been here who’s had a temperament like that.”

For all his bellicosity, President George W. Bush has known how to deal cautiously and diplomatically with China and even Russia. Could we rely on Mr McCain to do the same?

Mr McCain exemplifies “Jacksonian nationalism” – after Andrew Jackson, the 19th-century Indian-fighter and president – and the Scots-Irish military tradition from which both men sprung. As Mr McCain’s superb courage in North Vietnamese captivity and his honourable opposition to torture by US forces demonstrate, he also possesses the virtues of that tradition. Then again, some of the greatest catastrophes of the 20th century were caused by brave, honourable men with a passionate sense of national mission.

Not just US voters, but European governments, should use the next nine months to ponder the consequences if Mr McCain is elected and how they could either prevent a McCain administration from pursuing pyromaniac policies or, if necessary, protect Europe from the ensuing conflagrations.

The writer is a professor at King’s College, Cambridge, and a senior fellow of the New America Foundation. His book, America Right or Wrong, analyses US nationalism

Nature is Still not a Liberal Plot

Patrick Doherty — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:26:00 -0500

Climate change will emerge as one of America's most difficult--and transforming--strategic issues, regardless of who swears to protect and defend the Constitution next January. For presidential candidate John McCain, that reality and his record championing the environment are running into his courting of conservatives. Terry Tamminen, head of New America Foundation's Climate Policy Program, says that McCain's attempts to paint cap-and-trade as the conservative approach to climate change may leave no one satisfied, in the latest issue of The New Republic.

...McCain's economic guru, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, told me that McCain would "consult experts" on such questions, but "probably won't put out a specific bill that keeps up with these developments."

Holtz-Eakin suggests that McCain's approach would essentially be a conservative one. Unlike Newt Gingrich or Rudy Giuliani--who insist that, in lieu of emission caps, Congress should just fund alternative-energy solutions-- McCain favors setting a cap on carbon and letting the market adjust on its own. He's generally disdainful of corporate handouts (save to the nuclear industry, that is)--a hostility that has bolstered many of his environmental positions over the years. Bob Witzeman, an Arizona conservationist who has canoed with McCain, recalls that, "whenever I'd bring up an environmental topic, like mining law or grazing, he'd become cautiously non-committal." But, Witzeman adds, on the subject of pork, McCain's eyes would widen--"it's his favorite topic." Indeed, one Senate staffer who has worked with McCain suggests that the senator's much-lauded opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge had as much to do with his contempt for Alaska Senator (and arch-porker) Ted Stevens as with any principled concern for nature. Likewise, when McCain helped filibuster the 2003 energy bill, he seemed to be as exercised about its earmarks for an energy-efficient Hooters restaurant in Louisiana as its irresponsible promotion of fossil fuels.

This mindset could, ironically, drive McCain into supporting a strong cap- and-trade regime that doesn't carve out loopholes for corporations. "McCain makes [business] nervous as hell," says Cochran, whose organization has helped corral corporate support for an emission cap. But a strict conservative approach to climate also has drawbacks. "You can't just put a cap-and-trade on smokestacks," says Terry Tamminen, a Schwarzenegger adviser who runs the New America Foundation's Climate Policy Center. "You have to deal with tailpipes, with buildings that are already out there--and with agriculture and forestry, and other components." Emission-curbing steps like boosting public transit, retrofitting homes, and encouraging more efficient land use often require proactive government efforts. Tax credits for renewable power are needed to nurture nascent wind and solar industries. These measures are just as critical as McCain's preferred nuclear fix (even building a staggering 200 new nuclear plants by mid-century would cut emissions by only a fraction of the amount necessary). Yet, twice in recent months, McCain has skipped votes on Democratic bills that would, respectively, shift tax breaks from oil to renewable energy and offer incentives to boost efficiency. Both failed by a single vote.

Continue reading, Grand Canyon, by Bradford Plumer

Assessing the Presidential Candidates on Early Education

Sara Mead — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Voters in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, including we here at Early Ed Watch, go to the polls today to express their choices for the 2008 Democratic and Republican presidential nominations. So we thought this is a good time to look at what the candidates have proposed on the early education front.

Here’s the good news: We’re seeing some pretty ambitious proposals on early education from the Democrats in the field. Senator Hillary Clinton would provide funds to help states create universal pre-k programs for all 4-year-olds that meet high quality standards, starting at $5 billion and ramping up to $10 billion annually in five years. She would also increase funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant. Senator Barack Obama has pledged to invest $10 billion annually to help states create and implement comprehensive early learning systems to serve children from birth through age five, improve Head Start and childcare quality, and expand Early Head Start. He would also make the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit partially refundable for low-income families. And both candidates have some smart ideas about supporting work-life balance to help parents spend more time with their young children. Despite some differences, both candidates are proposing serious investments that could make a real difference for American children.

[slideshow] Republican candidates, in contrast haven’t offered much in the way of early education ideas. Current frontrunner Sen. John McCain has been virtually silent on education issues. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee touts his education record, including early education accomplishments—but doesn’t think the feds have a role to play in pre-k. Libertarian-leaning Texas Rep. Ron Paul is no fan of federal early education initiatives, and even voted against Head Start.

That’s one piece of bad news. A second is that Clinton and Obama, despite their ambitious pre-k and birth-to-five agendas, aren’t talking about how they will ensure early childhood initiatives are aligned with early elementary and other K-12 reforms to have a lasting impact on children’s education. We think that’s a mistake—both politically and substantively.

Substantively, it’s a problem because there’s evidence that academic gains from pre-k can fade away if they’re not supported by a high-quality early elementary program that’s aligned with and builds on children’s pre-k experiences. To maximize the impact of early childhood investments, policymakers must link these investments to K-12 reforms that improve early elementary schooling and align standards, curriculum, teaching and assessment across grades PK-3.

Moreover, failing to link early childhood investments to K-12 reforms is a political liability for candidates. As we’ve explained before, public opinion data shows that voters care about early learning—and the message that resonates the most is that early learning will help children succeed in K-12 education. Voters are less likely to support early childhood programs they perceive as “just childcare” (which many view as a family responsibility), or as boondoggles for liberal interest groups that want more education and social spending. To make the case on early education, politicians have to show how early education investments are more than just daycare—they’re real investments that will support K-12 reforms and generate measurably improved student achievement. PK-3 alignment is critical to making that case. Whether the eventual Democratic nominee is Clinton or Obama, she or he must take advantage of the opportunity to talk more about PK-3 alignment to make the case for early childhood investments as the campaign moves into the general election.

We, of course, would like to see both Democratic candidates talking more about their early education agendas now, in the primary—what’s more, we think both would benefit from doing so. Early care and education issues poll best with women—many of whom are also dealing with the very childcare and work-life balance issues Sen. Obama’s birth-to-five proposals seek to address. Talking more about these issues could help him with a constituency where he needs to make gains in order to secure the nomination. At the same time, early education issues underscore Sen. Clinton’s record and experience fighting for children, and her charisma and passion for these issues come through when she speaks about them.

And, of course, we’d love to see Republicans talking about the issues as well. Early education shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Republican governors and members of Congress have championed early education initiatives, including Governor Huckabee, who helped expand Arkansas’s pre-k program and implemented K-4 reforms aligned standards, professional development, and accountability in the early years. Republicans will need to strengthen their education message moving into their primary—they should check out some of these good, low-cost ideas on improving federal support for early education.

Fukuyama and Wright Debate Candidates' Foreign Policies

Patrick Doherty — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

What are the foreign policy implications of various presidential candidates? New America Foundation Board Member Francis Fukuyama and Senior Fellow (and Bloggingheads.tv co-founder) Robert Wright discuss.