In politics, it is not all about who you are friends with

Paul Garcia / Staff Writer / The USD Vista

Still in college, I already have friends and acquaintances whose records would stimulate trouble on the campaign trail. I could only imagine how much this phenomenon is increased when you are a 47 year-old senator with roots in the “boisterous and combative politics” of the Windy City like Obama.

Imagine being a 72 year-old senator who has been in congress since 1982 and is a staple of American politics. John McCain must have more friends than Tom, the founder and default friend from MySpace.

But, focusing on the candidate’s “friends” fails to address more important issues pertaining to this country’s future. Both politicians undoubtedly know a lot of people. However, the “guilty by association” argument works both ways.

The election is not about Tony Rezko, the campaign fundraiser, Obama campaign contributor and convicted felon. Neither is it about Bill Ayers, the education reformer, University of Illinois at Chicago professor, Obama’s former co-worker and co-founder of radical 70s organization, the Weather Underground.

Media coverage might suggest otherwise but this election is not about Obama’s “Pastor problems” with Jeremiah Wright who, in April 2003 sermon said “God damn America.” It’s not about Rev. Phleger who, while speaking at Obama’s former Trinity United Church in Chicago, mocked Hillary Clinton saying in May 2008, “I’m white, I’m entitled, there is a black man stealing my show.” None of these so-called friends of Obama are government functionaries and not influential players in his campaign.

We need not focus on the Republican’s pastor problems either, for instance staunch Republican and evangelical pastors including John Hagee, who claimed Hitler was expediting God’s will to re-establish Israel.

Sure, the videos surfacing the Internet are appalling (on both sides) and YouTube has proven tough on pastors. But McCain is running for office, not spiritual advisor Pastor Parsley who can be seen on the Internet saying Islam is the “antichrist,” and America “was founded with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed.” However, Hagee and Parsley aren’t close to the seat of power. Well, maybe Parsley is.

Given the financial crisis, we have spent too much time focusing on McCain’s relationship with lobbyists and not enough time on how he plans on fixing the economy. Sure a lot of lobbyists work in and donate to his campaign. But McCain’s campaign president Rick Davis, whose firm made $2 million lobbying for mortgage companies according to the New York Times is not running for president.

Sure, Phil Gramm has helped form McCain’s economic policy. He also pushed deregulation against bills like the “anti-predatory lending bill” for Swiss bank UBS while working for McCain according to “Real Clear Politics.”

While 10 years ago, McCain offered a bill that would ban candidates from having lobbyists work for them, the Economic Policy Institute’s Jared Bernstein told the Washington Post, “McCain is counting on people having very short memories and not connecting some pretty clear dots.”

There is no denying that McCain’s ties to lobbyists are extensive. On Sept. 24 Newsweek reported that 26 members of the McCain campaign, including Davis, have or still do lobby for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. There are currently 54 lobbyists that Publiccitizen.com reports as still working for McCain’s campaign.

The lobbyist ties do not end there. Four members of the McCain campaign were removed after it was revealed that they had lobbied for foreign interests including Saudi Arabia and the government of Myanmar.

With the financial world in chaos, many will find McCain’s ties to lobbyists very troubling. However, McCain’s lobbyist friends are not his most disturbing acquaintance during this economic crisis. There is one relationship that makes all others pale in comparison, the relationship between McCain and Bush.

Consider, according to Congressional Quarterly’s Voting Studies, McCain has voted for Bush initiated or favored legislation, including his economic policies, 95 percent of the time.

Then consider the vastly different economic conditions from Bush’s inauguration in January 2001 compared to now. When Bush was inaugurated, the country’s unemployment rate was 4.1 percent now it is over 6 percent. In January 2001, there was a $281 billion surplus; now there is a $357 billion deficit. In January 2001 there was $5.7 billion in debt; now there is $9.7 billion in debt.

This is the correlation we must consider when weighing our vote in this election not donors, pastors, lobbyist, campaign workers or even advisors. This is the evidence of how McCain would address the economic crisis. What friendship is the most telling of the lot? Quite simply, it is Bush and McCain’s.