American Gothic Senators
If President Barack Obama is going to turn the page on Guantanamo, he may need help from two of his old rivals: John McCain and his sidekick, Lindsey Graham.
While Senate Republicans have shown a united front on Guantanamo, the Arizonan and the South Carolinian are among a handful of GOP senators poised to break away from their party if the White House offers an appealing plan for dealing with the detainees and closing the prison.
McCain, who has always spoken out against torture, believes that keeping the facility open hurts America’s standing abroad, and Graham, a military justice expert, is also working with the White House on Guantanamo proposals.
So if Obama threads the needle on this issue — and keeps Democrats in line — he may grab the votes of these GOP senators and trump the Republican opposition in the end. Obama seems to sense the usefulness of his campaign rivals, too: He explicitly mentioned McCain and Graham in his Thursday speech on Guantanamo.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22843.htmlI'll believe this when I see it.