Third Term President

“McCain appears intent on abandoning some of his most deeply cherished personal values, including his commitment to secular values and distaste for religious bigotry, in favor of catering to the great W. coalition of white evangelicals and security-obsessed conservatives. Like Bush, his mantras are war and belligerence abroad, and at home, fear-mongering, “free trade,” lower taxes on the wealthy, and “job training” for the increasingly miserable middle classes. If he is elected, it will be “Groundhog Day,” the Bill Murray film about a character doomed to live through the same day over and over again. It will be the last eight years that we will suffer through again under a President McCain. This quote taken from an article entitled McCain rushes for Bush’s third term, published in several notable magazines, describes the idea that some political analyst share regarding McCain and his potential election to the White house, primarily how it could be seen as a third term for George Bush. The author of the article Juan Cole mentions that with one trip to the white house, and a crucial “endorsement: by President George Bush, John McCain seems to be abandoning his core belief system (as seen in 2000 campaign), In order to realign himself with the current Republican administration, and garner support among those faithful Republicans who love Bush. Cole also mentions in the article, that in 2000 McCain denounced Evangalicist “as agents of intolerance” “but now he is acting as Bush did then, and welcoming them and their endorsements with open arms. Finally the article states that McCain is sticking to the same strategy that Bush did in 2004, by promoting security against a week democratic candidate. The article concludes by stating that a Third Term for Bush can be seen in a McCain presidency, by McCain’s decision to adopt similar and in some cases the same foreign and domestic polices as President Bush. http://moderate.wordpress.com/2008/03/12/john-mccain-runs-for-george-bushs-third-term/
This idea of presidential candidates being an extension of the predecessors is a common theme within historical presidential campaigns, one of those campaigns being the election of 1908. In this election William Howard Taft and his campaign was criticized for being too closely connected to the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. The Presidential Campaigns book by Paul F. Boller states that during the election of 1908 “Taft with T.R. at his elbow took an advanced position of many issues…with T.R.’s coaching he gradually improved and even began enjoying the hustings” (pg 179). Under T.R’s guidance Taft’s campaign gained momentum and he was able to assume the presidency (Most people believe because he adopted most of TR’s policies) Taft’s presidency according to most historians is T.R. third term in office...
A presidential candidate being an extension of their predecessors is not a new issue within American politics. The idea of incumbents assuming a “third term” in their party’s next choice, will continue to be an issue as long as there are Presidential Campaigns in the United States.