What Does "Change" Really Mean?

After watching both the DNC and the RNC, it seems that the word “change” is being thrown around right and left - no pun intended. While Barack Obama has been running on a platform of change since the start of his campaign, John McCain and his campaign have just recently started to focus on change - probably an attempt to dissociate himself with a largely unpopular President. Obama summed up this switch while speaking to supporters in Indiana,

“Everywhere I go we’ve been talking about change, that’s been the theme of this campaign, and we must be on to something, because I notice now everyone’s talking about change now.”

The New York Times counted theme specific words used at both the conventions. Below is a picture of the results:


Change, as expected, was a reoccurring theme at the DNC. A little more surprising was the use of it at the RNC. Previously, McCain wasn't running on the platform of change, but more on the platform of experience. Now it is one of the most talked about topics, falling only behind God and taxes.

So, what does "change" really mean to McCain? Below is a look at a few of the change issues that were discussed at the RNC, and the truth behind the issues presented.

McCain refers to himself as a Maverick, reaching over party lines to get things accomplished. He says that the government needs to move away from its partisan ways and unite as Americans. The truth is that McCain used to be somewhat of a Maverick, but in the recent years, and especially during this presidential campaign, he has changed his stance on multiple issues in order to become more electable in the Republican party. John Kerry mentioned this in his speech at the DNC:

"Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain’s own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you’re against it.

Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what’s more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same 'Rove' tactics and the same 'Rove' staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear."

As the Democrats mentioned multiple times during their convention, over the last eight years McCain has voted with President George Bush over 90% of the time. In fact, in 2008 he has voted with Bush 100% of the time. During his speech at the convention he said:

" We need to change the way government does almost everything: from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy; from the way we respond to disasters to the way we fuel our transportation network; from the way we train our workers to the way we educate our children."

It is laughable that someone who has been continuously voting with our current President can talk so urgently about the need to change. In recent years, McCain has been more of a follower and a conformer then a Maverick and a reformer.

John McCain also spoke about breaking our dependence from foreign oil. I think that both Obama and McCain can agree that this is a change we need, but they have different ways of going about it. McCain wants to put more focus on domestic offshore drilling, and some focus on renewable energy sources. One of the most memorable chants from the RNC was "drill baby, drill" which came out of Giuliani's speech.

The main focus should be away from oil and onto renewable and clean energy - for our environment and for our energy independence. The more that we depend on oil, the slower we will be to discover and develop alternative energy sources. If any drilling does need to happen, it should be seen as secondary, and brief way to subsidize energy until we have the alternative methods ready. If we put the main focus on drilling, we will be back in the same boat 10 years from now, and our environment will be that much weaker and harder to revive. The energy change that really needs to happen is the type of change that Barack Obama will bring.

Another change that McCain presented were tax cuts to stimulate the economy. He wants to give tax cuts to large corporations and is banking on the trickle-down effect to increase jobs and economic well being for those facing tight times. This tactic isn't change at all. It is the unsuccessful tactic used in years past. One of Bush's strongest talking points in 2000 was tax cuts like these. The years have proven that giving tax breaks to the richest is not an effective way to stimulate the economy, and it definitely isn't change.

I won't even get started on Governor Sarah Palin; I am sure that will be another post. I do want to point out that she mentioned change three times during her speech at the RNC, but never talked about what needed to change - only saying that their ticket would create change. That really represents the majority of what I saw during the RNC, a lot of talk and mud-slinging, but no specifics or concrete examples of real change.

Only 58 more days until the election...