McCain not
eyeing presidency
The Arizona Republican
visits Honolulu for a ceremony
honoring a retired Navy admiral
Though he campaigned for George W. Bush's re-election, U.S. Sen. John McCain says he doesn't want a job in the president's second-term Cabinet.
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"I want to work with the president on the agenda that we have, so I am not much interested in (running for president)," McCain said before having lunch with Gov. Linda Lingle at Washington Place.
But McCain also recalled that the late Morris Udall, an Arizona congressman who ran for president in 1976, "once said that if you're a United States senator, unless you're under indictment or detoxification, you automatically consider yourself a candidate for president of the United States."
Lingle praised McCain for his role in bringing the Republican Party together with his strong endorsement of Bush this year, even though the two were opponents for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000.
McCain said he was "very pleased, as I think all Americans were, to hear a gracious concession speech from Sen. (John) Kerry and the president's commitment to reach out to the Democrats on important issues -- Social Security reform, tax reform and fiscal discipline is something that we're going to have to exercise a lot more."
Both presidential candidates ran good campaigns, McCain said. "I think it was more a Bush victory than a Democrat loss. This was a referendum on President Bush, not on John Kerry."
McCain said he expects Bush to make good on his promise to work with Democrats. But he noted that Democrats also must work with the president "because the American people basically repudiated the Democrats, at least in some areas, and they gave the president a 3.5 million vote plurality."
McCain predicted that Bush would appoint some Democrats to his Cabinet. "And I think in his inaugural speech you will see a call for unity, a call for patriotism and a warning that the war on terrorism is a long way from over. And the real enemy is al-Qaida, not the Democrats and not the Republicans."
Bush faces an "enormous opportunity" for brokering a Middle East peace agreement now that "it's clear that (ailing Palestinian leader) Yasser Arafat will meet Allah sooner or later -- or whoever he meets," McCain said.
"If we can bring about a settlement of hostilities between Israelis and the Palestinians, it will have a huge effect on European public opinion," which had favored Kerry as the next U.S. president.
McCain was in Honolulu to speak at a ceremony last night honoring retired Navy Rear Adm. Lloyd "Joe" Vasey, who served in the Pacific in World War II with the senator's father, John S. McCain Jr., a former submarine commander. McCain was to leave Hawaii this morning.
Military bases in Hawaii will continue to be of "vital importance," McCain said yesterday.
"Recent events in North Korea indicate the importance of the Pacific Command and military presence in Asia. So I think you can count on, for a long time to come, a significant military presence here in Hawaii," McCain said, adding that he is in line to become chairman of the Armed Services Committee in two years.
McCain said that the president's regard for Lingle is good for Hawaii.
"I would expect that when the governor calls the White House that her call is answered or returned very quickly. And I think that that's very helpful, because the president has a lot of competing priorities."
He added, "I'm sure the governor and I may have some national security issues of mutual concern."