John McCain has been all over the news this week for the first time since 2008. Unfortunately, he has been in the midst of a controversy over his comments at a press conference last week.
McCain was asked what solutions he proposed for the immense wildfires currently raging in Arizona.
The senator’s response was a little bizarre.
“We are concerned about, particularly areas down on the border, where there is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been started by people who have crossed our borders illegally.”
His solution, and actual answer to the reporter's question was to make a more secure border.
Now, to be honest, I find McCain's issue-wrangling skills to be pretty impressive. He has managed to take an issue that is completely unrelated to immigration and make it about the illegal immigrants. Hats off, sir.
But why bring immigration into it? McCain isn't running for president, and this was a press conference about the wildfires, not about his stance on issues or anything more than what to do about the epic flames scorching most of the bottom of Arizona.
McCain went on to provide no support for his claims, or to identify which fires had been set by illegal aliens.
Though, in his defense, there really is no evidence for him to provide. In an article by The Arizona Republic, Tom Berglund, a Forest Service spokesman, said illegal immigrants have "absolutely not” played a role in the fires.
There appears to be a trend, at least in the last decade or so of politicians forcing their 'issues' into absolutely everything.
In the 2008 presidential election, it was Obama's religion and birthplace, in 2004 it was gay marriage, and in 2000, abortion. Politicians think superficially linking one topic to another, more 'hot-button' one will do them political favors, but in McCain's instance, it definitely did not, earning him backlash from Latino and immigrant's rights groups.
During the 2008 presidential election, Republican candidates used every opportunity to question Obama's religion and birthplace, and many Republicans continue to raise the issue even after Obama’s birth certificate was presented.
This is tied to the length of U.S. elections. When candidates get elected, they immediately have to start campaigning for the next election, which leads to mindless dead-horse-beating of non-issues like Obama’s birth certificate.
This trend of warping issues to suit political agenda instead of actually trying to come up with solutions is getting us nowhere. I understand politicians have a base, a core group that they have to play to and drum up support from, but igniting controversy does not help anyone.
In this instance, McCain is shoving increased border security, of which he is a huge supporter, down the throat of these wildfires instead of working to stop them.
It is easier for politicians to play the blame game than to actually come up with solutions. When McCain was asked what could be done to stop the fires, he blamed illegal aliens instead of proposing a solution.
So what is prompting our politicians to place blame instead of find solutions?
There is an election somewhere in the U.S. every year, and most of the time between those elections is spent preparing for the next. The 2008 presidential election was the longest in history. And they seem to be getting longer, leading politicians to try and 'rally the base' 365 days a year, instead of just the few months before an election.
Let me pull a McCain here and say, one way to solve the fires is to reform campaigns, and then maybe we could focus on solutions instead of scapegoats.
Reach the columnist at oonagh.mcquarrie@asu.edu
