Published: February 23, 2008 04:24 pm         

Mark Bennett: Ultimate questions, hard as they may be, tell us the most about a candidate

Indianapolis — For some Americans, a presidential candidate must utter certain phrases to be worthy.

Republican frontrunner John McCain came to Indiana on Friday to raise funds for his campaign, knowing this state has been GOP red in every election but one since 1936. In the modern lobby of the Emmis Communications Building on Monument Circle, the Arizona senator spoke at a town hall meeting, surrounded by supporters, seated in front of his stage, standing along a staircase, and watching overhead from a second-floor balcony.

McCain built his name in the U.S. Senate as a maverick, a rebel within his party.

On Friday, McCain carefully said nothing to offend conservative hearts that worry about his conservatism. He invoked the name of Ronald Reagan a half-dozen times. He promised, as president, to curtail wasteful government spending, and told the story of a $3-million program to study the DNA of bears in Montana. “I don’t know if it was a paternity issue or a criminal one.”

On immigration, McCain wants U.S. borders secured. On Supreme Court appointments, “I would only appoint judges who strictly interpret the Constitution” and not those who will “legislate from the bench.” On the 24-percent public approval rating of Congress (currently led by Democrats), “When it gets that low, you’re down to paid staffers and blood relatives.” On health care, “Governments don’t run anything very efficiently, and I don’t want government to take over health care.”

And he mentioned Ronald Reagan.

Check, check, check, and check.

To plenty of folks in Indiana and elsewhere in the country, those comments are exactly what they’re looking for from McCain or any Republican candidate.

Across the political fence, lots of Democratic voters also want their hot-button clichés repeated by their presidential hopefuls, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

McCain, Obama and Clinton should remember, though, many Americans want specifics on the hardest questions.

Jeff Wells drove from his home in Carmel to downtown Indy early Friday morning, hoping for the chance to ask McCain a hard question.

The 28-year-old Texas native came to Indiana after finishing his active-duty stint in the U.S. Army, which included 15 months in Iraq as a lieutenant leading a unit of the 1st Cavalry Division.

Respectful, sincere and thoughtful, Wells took the microphone, praised McCain for his military service, and then asked the senator to assess his concerns about the war in Iraq. Wells, now a captain in the Army Reserves, questioned McCain’s view of the Iraqi Army’s inabilities, the dearth of intelligence information available to soldiers on the ground, and the continuity within the U.S. units based there.

McCain answered each concern, assuring that his administration would address problems there. He also emphasized his past criticism of the handling of the war by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, reiterated his support for the surge of U.S. troops last year, and restated his opposition to an immediate withdrawal of American forces.

“We are succeeding,” McCain said.

McCain’s responses helped define his outlook. Afterward, Wells shook hands with him, yet still had an unanswered concern. Wells had also recently driven to Dayton to attend a Clinton speech. There, he asked Clinton to explain her plan for Iraq. He left Dayton unsatisfied, too.

On Friday, after McCain headed off to a fund-raiser at an Indy hotel, Wells explained he is “very much a Republican.” He also agreed with McCain that the troop surge has worked. But “my key issue,” Wells said, is to hear the candidates give a specific plan for the war’s end. Three soldiers in his unit in Iraq were killed. Two others were seriously wounded.

He stays in contact with friends still in Iraq, and has asked them, “Is it better than it was when I was there in ’05? And they say, ‘No, it’s worse.’”

Acknowledging the “bad intelligence” that led to the initial involvement in Iraq, Wells made clear the importance of a definitive plan there for the new president. “American soldiers are the best that our nation has to offer, and if we’re sending American soldiers in harm’s way for no good reason, it doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

When Wells asked Clinton about the war’s end, she spoke of only making smart withdrawals of troops. McCain’s answers were similar. And both bore close resemblance to those of the current president, Wells said.

“That’s the same thing President Bush is saying,” he added. “I think the only one that’s thinking of pulling forces out as soon as possible is Obama.”

With his Republican roots, Wells was not ready to say he could vote for Obama. His mind, though, is open. “I would consider voting for either of the three of them, at this point.”

As a few stragglers milled around the Emmis lobby, Wells looked back at the now-empty stage, with the “John McCain for President” backdrop still lit. Wells’ firsthand experiences cause him to worry that some core problems in Iraq will still exist whenever the United States decides to withdraw forces, and he suspects the pre-surge turmoil will then quickly return.

“For me, the question is, when it goes back to that — when, not if — what are those [three presidential candidates] going to do?” Wells said, pointing to the vacant stage.

Yes, that’s a hard one. But millions of American would like McCain, Obama and Clinton to clearly answer that before November’s election.

Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.