Specter’s jump personal, not principled

I lost a great deal of respect for Sen. Arlen Specter yesterday. No. Scratch that. I lost all respect for Specter yesterday. In case you missed it, the long time Republican Senator from Pennsylvania announced he is switching to the Democratic party. A member of Congress switching parties is not new, but it’s why Specter did it that upsets me.

In the best of cases, a politician switches parties because he or she no longer supports the philosophy of their old party. There was a big political realignment that saw many southern Democrats become Republicans in the mid 20th Century because of philosophy. South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond told friends of mine interviewing him for a high school project that he became a Republican because he found himself voting more often with the GOP than his own Democratic Party. That makes sense.

Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont left the GOP in 2001 to become an Independent, essentially giving Democrats control of the Senate, because he disagreed with fellow Republicans on funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Ironically, when Jeffords defected, Specter denounced the move and tried to stop it from happening again.

I can respect people like Thurmond and Jeffords for making a switch based on philosophy and principle, whatever they may be. But that’s not why Specter jumped ship. Despite his moderate positions that often stands in opposition with the more conservative party base, Specter made the move because his ship was sinking. In making his shocking announcement yesterday, Specter admitted he knew polls in Pennsylvania show he is trailing an opponent for the Republican primary.

"I am not prepared to have my 29-year record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate,” Specter said while describing his primary chances at bleak. But he certainly did not mind it when those same Republican voters nominated and helped him to wins in the general election in 1980, 1986, 1992, 1998 and 2004. If he could have backed up his move with some substance on philosophy, I could understand and support him, as President Barack Obama and PA Gov. Ed Rendell will during next year’s election. But Specter merely wants to do whatever it takes to keep his seat, even if it means ignoring the will of the people who so long gave him his party.

Of course, that’s the real question: What is the will of the people? Connecticut’s Joe Lieberman faced this same crisis in 2006. Just six years removed from his run as the Democratic Party’s nominee for Vice President, Lieberman lost the Democratic primary for his Senate seat. He decided, like Specter, he knew better than the voters, so he ran as a third-party candidate and won reelection. He is now listed as an Independent Democrat, though he endorsed John McCain for President in the 2008 campaign. Perhaps Lieberman’s win justifies Specter’s decision. I’m not sure. Personally I think they both show a disrespect for the political process, as confusing and sometimes odd as the partisan system may seem, that has made this country the best republic in the history of the world.

I have long respected Specter for his willingness not to be defined by his party and for his brave, public fight against cancer the last several years, especially when it looked he might have been on the edge of death. But that respect is gone for a man who puts his personal political ambitions after all his time of service ahead of principle. Hopefully the voters of Pennsylvania, Republican, Democrat or otherwise, will see Specter’s move for what it really is and find someone more worthy to represent them in Washington.