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McDonnell has clearly matured as a politician, but will this matter after the election?

A mature politician keeps his controversial views to himself.

 

Even so, there are two reasons Bob McDonnell’s 1989 Regent University Law School[1] thesis, entitled “The Republican Party’s Vision for the Family: The Compelling Issue of the Decade[2],  may not be such a big deal. First, like McDonnell claims, his views could have matured in the last twenty years when it comes to gays, single mothers, women in the workforce, divorces, or those who engage in sex out of wedlock. Maybe when he uses the term “matured”, he means he no longer believes, like he did at age 34,  that government policies keeping people in bad marriages, encouraging women not to work, or punishing gays and single unwed mothers would improve society.[3].  Second, maybe he never really held those views at all. Graduate students are forced to write theses, and the theses must make a point, preferably an interesting or even a controversial one. The student must advocate for or against something, and not something so bland that everyone already agrees with it.  McDonnell wrote his thesis for Regent University Law School, a school whose express mission is to bring Christian values into public life through its students. Regent states its mission and vision as follows:

 

 

Regent Law School seeks to foster “Christian Leadership to Change the World.” [5] Its founder and former President, Pat Robertson, a Yale Law grad and skilled politician who has run for President himself, founded the popular 700 Club, and been a national voice on many issues for decades, has always been open about the mission:

 

We at the Christian Coalition are raising an army who cares. We are training people to be effective -- to be elected to school boards, to city councils, to state legislatures, and to key positions in political parties.... By the end of this decade, if we work and give and organize and train, The Christian Coalition will be the most powerful political organization in America. - Pat Robertson, in a fundraising letter, July 4, 1991.[6]

 

Many Christians do not agree that the tenants of fundamentalist Christianity espoused by Pat Robertson follow the principles of “truth, justice and love as described in the holy scriptures,” especially when it comes to traditional views on the role of women in society.  Others hold these views with religious fervor. Even in the Regent context, McDonnell’s thesis was an edgy (and thus, interesting) one, especially for 1989 as opposed to 1959.  Grad school is training, after all. It’s training for the rhetorical world of law, business, or academia. So maybe McDonnell’s stated bias against working women, single mothers, “fornicators”, and gays was nothing more than a thought provoking thesis written by a man who had the guts to go out on the edge a little - even beyond his own views.  As he says, an academic exercise. Like practice.

 

Recent history proves Virginians can vote for either party. But it also shows they may not want to fight the culture war for the next four years.[7] Maturing aside, Bob McDonnell obviously came up entrenched on the culture war side of the Republican party. Regent University lists McDonnell as number one on its list of nationally recognized graduates.[8]  Pat Robertson continues to be an outspoken McDonnell supporter, including defending McDonnell’s thesis. Robertson has always, including recently, advocated for views on the far right side of the culture war. [9] But in 2009 the Republican party is not all about social issues. The moderate side of the party advocates for a chilling of the culture war rhetoric about single mothers, gays, abortion, English as the national language, prayer in schools, the ten commandments at the courthouse, and other issues that are especially uninteresting to swing voters during an economic crisis. (See http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-8959-Arlington-Law-and-Politics-Examiner~y2009m8d31-Political-Book-Review-The-Last-Best-Hope-by-Joe-Scarborough). Close elections are decided based on the economy.  Swing voters are turned off by politicians pointing fingers at each other, or railing against gays, minorities, immigrants, fornicators, or even corporate executives. Abortion and the sexual behavior of others may interest some already committed republicans, but not the critical group of Virginia swing voters who supported Reagan, Warner, Kaine, Webb and Obama, politicians who all share one trait – they fit the times. While swing voters in Virginia have proven they can vote for either a Republican or a Democrat, they haven’t lately demonstrated a zeal for the culture war wing of the Republican party. Political maturity is one thing when an election is on, but does anyone believe even the mature Governor McDonnell would sign a bill that might improve the work climate for women? Or benefit non-traditional households? Or ensure equal government treatment of religions? Twenty years may be a long time, but so is the gap, for some,  between the sinner and the saved.

 

Political colleagues of McDonnell’s have issued warnings that his actions as a leader are consistent with the views he held as a younger man. McDonnell himself ,however,  has done a decent job of not appearing defined by the culture war.[10] His thesis does not necessarily prove he is a culture warrior, but his record might. Hopefully, voters will do the work needed to explore whether McDonnell actually changed his views, or is merely smart about how to get elected. 

 

A mature man on a mission keeps his controversial views to himself.  

 

 Photo: Top Right, AP photo/Pat Robertson