Obama Supporter Lincoln Chafee -- A Truer Maverick Than McCain or Palin

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

Although John McCain and Sarah Palin have tried to claim the "Maverick" label, in Republican circles they are anything but that. In reality, the McCain/Palin ticket has out-neo-conned the neocons and now represents only the extreme right wing in America. 

True Republican Mavericks – those who pushed back against George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the GOP whips -- are the ones who have bailed from their party, or from their seats in the Congress, or from both. One such person is Rhode Islander Lincoln Chafee.

Chafee served 7 years in the U.S. Senate as a moderate Republican but lost his reelection bid in 2006 to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. Chafee subsequently "disaffiliated" himself officially from the GOP and is now, as an independent, a vigorous supporter of his Senate colleague, Barack Obama. He's been stumping for Obama in the Midwest states lately, and he voted for and campaigned for Obama in Rhode Island's March Democratic primary.


^{Former Senator Lincoln Chafee (Photo: CJ Gunther/Reuters)}

Now a visiting fellow with Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, Chafee spoke to a Brown group in Chicago Thursday about "How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President." It was an insider's reminiscence of the appalling Bush/Cheney era, also detailed in Chafee's 2008 book, Against the Tide.

Chafee arrived in the Senate in 1999, appointed to serve upon the sudden death of his father, Senator John Chafee. He reports being "surprised by the partisan trench warfare" he encountered there.

In early 2000, Chafee was one of only five moderate Republicans serving in an evenly divided Senate. Right after the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision gave the White House to Bush, Vice President-Elect Dick Cheney met with the group of GOP moderates to outline the new administration's agenda. Chafee recalls, "I was almost shaking with fury" as Cheney spelled out their "shockingly controversial agenda … right from the very beginning, that guy was in charge."

Chafee's recounting of the post-9/11 Congress and the push for war is truly chilling. The atmosphere was confused, the decisions rushed, and intimidation by party elders intense. When Chafee actually voted "no" initially on the "Authorization for Use of Military Force," he was literally grabbed by his lapels and urged to reconsider -- which he did. Of all the Congress, only Congresswoman Barbara Lee stood firm to vote no. Her reward was death threats and ongoing intimidation. "That was the climate." Chafee adds, "Fear and anger are very dangerous emotions."

Chafee describes himself as a fiscal conservative who is for personal liberties, clean air, no overseas quagmires, and building the middle class. He voted against the Iraq war resolution, against the flag-burning constitutional amendment, against Bush's deep tax cuts, against drilling in ANWR. He says of John McCain: "I never liked his belligerent approach to the world."

Why else does he support Barack Obama?

Chafee knew Obama from their work on a Senate committee, and then he was impressed by Obama's campaign -- "no upheavals, no cost overruns." Chafee adds, "My mother was a supporter way back." And then,with McCain's Palin pick, "I knew I'd made the right decision." Chafee also gives Obama credit for "not shredding opponents" so that he can actually work with them later to get things done. "He wants to govern."

Chafee avows, "I am an optimist" and says he expects an Obama presidency and this year's congressional elections to bring a "big, big significant change." Of Bush/Cheney, he says, "They think they're above the law." 

When asked to comment on the current Congress, Chafee minced no words: "Abysmal. President Bush still gets everything he wants. A lot is dictated by the Executive. A bunch of sheep."

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

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