Education of a Supply Sider?

Education of a Supply Sider

Arizona Senator John McCain has been under assault over the past week from his GOP rivals and the media for a statement he made to me in a Wall Street Journal weekend interview on the economy three years ago. His admission in that interview was the following: "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated." The controversy over Mr. McCain's statement has been stirred up anew by NBC’s Tim Russert on his Sunday morning show, but one could easily make the case that Mr. McCain's confession is equally true of every Republican in the presidential field, to say nothing of the three Democratic presidential aspirants. Perhaps the Arizona Senator deserves kudos for at least being honest about his need for help with remedial economics.

Mr. McCain has certainly taken positions and votes on issues like taxes and global warming (he favors cap-and-trade) that are troubling. Most problematic of all was his vote against the Bush tax cuts, which he said were "tilted to the rich." That, of course, has proven to be far from the case, since the percentage of taxes paid by "the rich" has increased, not decreased, in the wake of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.

But Mr. McCain has arguably the best stable of economic advisers in the race, with only Rudy Giuliani's team rivaling him in economic expertise. His primary confidant on the economy is former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm (who would almost certainly be Treasury secretary in a McCain administration). Jack Kemp has signed up with Mr. McCain, and Mr. McCain talks frequently to his longtime friend, the godfather of supply-side economics, Arthur Laffer.

The big source of agitation for conservative voters over the past several years has been the federal spending explosion. Here, Senator McCain has teamed with Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, another endorser of the Arizona Senator, to cut more than $100 billion out of the federal budget. He has voted with Mr. Coburn on nearly every anti-pork measure introduced in the last several years. "I will cut the budget more than any other Republican," he told me in an interview late this summer when his poll numbers were in the tank. "Maybe that's what makes so many people nervous about me."

Mr. McCain is also an unwavering supporter of two other issues critical to the economic future of the nation: free trade and school choice. Education is always an issue foremost on the mind of the key "soccer mom" suburban vote. "The day that members of Congress will send their kids to the public schools in Washington, D.C., is the day I'll know we've fixed education in America," he has told me. "Why won't people like Hillary Clinton send her child to the public schools in Washington, D.C.?" Great question, and one he should save for a debate with Hillary if the two are the nominees.

Voters will have to make up their own minds about whether John McCain is sufficiently reliable and reformed on issues like taxes to be trusted. He did tell me this summer: "I've learned from what happened after the tax cuts were enacted. They worked."

Who says John McCain can't be educated on economics?