History and Necessity Unite Bush, McCain

Video

Bush Thanks Candidates at CPAC Conference

President Bush delivered remarks early Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, before heading to Tennessee to survey storm damage.

» LAUNCH VIDEO PLAYER

Eric Ueland, a top aide to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), said much of the animosity owed more to staff friction or minor differences that were blown out of proportion. "In some respects, they are very similar," he said. "Each identifies a goal and is incredibly persistent about pulling off that goal."

Indeed, statistics compiled by Congressional Quarterly show that McCain voted with Bush about 90 percent of the time in five of the first six years of the president's tenure. And the two seemed to move closer on major policies, with Bush tackling the congressional pet projects that have long been a McCain target and McCain supporting Bush's first-term tax cuts being made permanent. They also stood together against fierce opposition to their plan to create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and the decision to reinforce troops in Iraq.

"When times got tough in Iraq, and people's knees could have buckled and people could have gone certain directions, McCain made clear, 'I'm with you and we'll die in the last foxhole together if need be,' " said Karl Rove, Bush's former deputy chief of staff. "Rather than draw away from the unpopular strategy, McCain hugged it even tighter."

Peter Feaver, a former Bush national security aide, said the two men reached their positions out of principle, not friendship. "I suspect the Bush-McCain convergence you see on policy has more to do with them independently confronting the same set of realities and less to do with one persuading or cajoling the other to join their bandwagon," he said. But he noted that as Bush looks beyond the end of his term, "there is no question that McCain will be the candidate who most shares President Bush's commitment to winning the Iraq war."

The president has remained neutral during the nomination battle, but with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's withdrawal Thursday, McCain's nomination became all but assured, and Bush appeared to begin trying to put the wounds of the primary season behind the Republican Party. "We have had good debates, and soon we will have a nominee who will carry a conservative banner into this election and beyond," Bush told the Conservative Political Action Conference yesterday. "The stakes in November are high. . . . So with confidence in our vision and faith in our values, let us go forward, fight for victory and keep the White House in 2008."

Bush's implied endorsement of McCain's conservative bona fides could help settle doubts within the party. The president has also agreed to give "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace an hour-long interview at Camp David this weekend to talk about the fall campaign. But he plans to wait to begin any overt campaigning. "We are studiously neutral in this race, and that is where we remain today," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said yesterday.

While Bush is receiving record-low approval ratings from the general public, he remains popular with the Republican base, a fact that the McCain camp hopes to exploit. "Don't underestimate the value of a sitting incumbent president on the progress of a campaign," said Howard Opinsky, a former McCain aide. "When it comes to fundraising, President Bush is still a tremendous draw. When it comes to closing the deal with the party and getting people on board, I think President Bush can be of help."

But the two camps will have to figure out how to coordinate through November. This will be the first time since 1952 that a president finishing his second term does not have his vice president running to succeed him in the general election, so there will not be anyone representing the campaign's interests in daily White House planning meetings.

"It's going to take more of an effort," said a former administration official. "How do you make sure what the president is going to say is going to comport with what the candidate wants?"