McCain, Obama try to stick flip-flop label on opponent

With the presidential campaign in full swing, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and their surrogates are trying to label each other as “flip-floppers,” a characterization that they hope will stick and be as effective this year as it was in 2004.

Both candidates this week reversed course on significant positions. Obama said he would opt out of public financing for the general election while McCain stated that he now supports drilling off the coast if states give their consent.

{mosads}Obama surrogate and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) called McCain’s reversal on the drilling issue “yet another flip-flop” from the Arizona Republican. Daschle, who appeared on Fox News Sunday, also accused the GOP standard-bearer of flip-flopping regarding his view on how to treat detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R), a McCain supporter who also appeared on the show, returned fire and said Obama and his surrogates are the flip-floppers.

“They’re willing to say one thing a year ago, two years ago, even a couple of months ago, and as circumstances change, immediately they go in another direction, whether it’s ‘I’m for NAFTA’ or ‘I’m opposed to NAFTA,’ ‘now I will reconsider my position,’ ” Ridge said. He also argued that Obama shifted positions when he first voiced support for his controversial former pastor and later left his church.

“But the public financing one is the biggest and most intriguing one of all,” Ridge stated, adding, “He’s not only broken a fundamental reform of the political system, but he’s also broken his word.”

On NBC’s Meet the Press, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of McCain’s staunchest allies, said Obama’s reversal on public financing would “not go unnoticed by the American people.”

The Illinois senator “seems to be willing to say anything” to reach his goal of winning the presidency, Graham added.

“He’s a calculating politician. The bottom line about, about Barack Obama, whatever the position, whether it be Iraq, campaign finance reform, public financing, he’s going to take a tack that allows him to win,” Graham said. “He wants to win beyond anything else, even more than keeping his word.”

Meantime, on CBS’s Face the Nation, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), who backs Obama, said it is McCain who has already flip-flopped on public financing.

“Look at what Sen. McCain has done. He started out with public financing in the primary, then he flip-flopped,” Richardson said. “Now he’s back for public financing…I’d say that he is the flip- flopper.”

Both campaigns are clearly hoping to make the label stick. In 2004, Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) was successfully characterized as a flip-flopper and was hurt by being put in that category.

Most famously, the Bush campaign highlighted Kerry’s statement that he voted for a war supplemental before he voted against it.

However, despite opening themselves to criticism from the other side and damning editorials from across the country, the position changes could also pay huge dividends for the candidates.

Obama’s decision to decline public funding will allow him to raise unprecedented amounts for the general elections. He will likely enjoy a major financial edge over McCain in the general election, which would allow him to take the fight to the Republican in more states.

Meantime, for McCain his reversal on drilling could help him with voters who are fed up with soaring gas prices. It allows the Republican to draw a clear distinction between himself and Obama, who has been hammered for a remark he made that indicates that he is supportive of a gradual increase of gas prices.