McCain's Veepstake's: Rob Portman

Human Events, Apr 21, 2008 by Gizzi, John

Third in a Series

I recently interviewed Rob Portman, the onetime Ohio congressman who has served President Bush as international trade representative and director of the Office of Management and Budget. Just hours before the interview, I was dining with another Buckeye State Republican, House GOP Leader John Boehner.

At a luncheon hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Boehner was giving his profile of an ideal running mate for John McCain:

"He has to be younger than McCain," Boehner said to some laughter, "a solid conservative, and someone people could see as President."

McCain, he believed, would probably turn to "a governor, a former governor, or a former administration official."

Did he think his criteria fit Rob Portman? I asked.

"I do," Boehner shot back, noting that Portman had served the Bush Administration in the important roles.

"It scares me that my buddy John actually feels that way," Portman said with a laugh when I told him about Boehner's remarks at the luncheon, but he didn't jump at the chance to say he wanted the VP spot. He did, however, recall how Boehner helped get him into Congress when Boehner represented the district just North of the Cincinnati-based 2ndDistrict that Portman would hold from 1993-2005:

"When [then-Republican Rep.] Bill Gradison was considering whether he was running again in 1992, John Boehner took me out to lunch and said, 'Get ready,'" Portman recalled.

"I'm probably here today because he got me thinking about running for Congress." Gradison did run and win again in '92, but then resigned to take a private-sector job. With help from some hard-hitting radio commercials by Barbara Bush, Portman won the special election and held the district until '05, when George W. Bush tapped him to be U.S. trade representative.

Boehner isn't the only one touting Portman. Columnist Robert Novak has served up a flattering piece and several people in the McCain camp are known to think highly of him. He is smart, a good politician, and is viewed very favorably in a state widely considered a must-win for any GOP presidential candidate.

He also compiled.a conservative voting record in his dozen years in Congress.

A member of both the Budget and Ways and Means Committees, the young Ohioan quickly distinguished himself as an expert on taxes, spending and fiscal matters in general. In his first term, Portman helped floor-manage the controversial unfunded mandates measure that requires unfunded mandates exceeding $50 million for local government to be subject to a point of order in either house of Congress, which can be overridden by a simple majority. (The measure was eventually passed and signed by President Clinton.) He also co-chaired the National Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service and led the charge to repeal the 3% excise tax on telephone service that had been dubbed by critics the "Spanish American War tax" because it was created to fund the war that ended in 1898.

Portman's expertise on domestic issues, and the easy way in which he can talk about them on radio and TV, may be his strongest suit for the VP position, especially since McCain's credentials in this area are rather thin.

Portman's main concern right now is checking runaway federal spending.

Readily warming to the subject, he says the biggest domestic challenge "is the unsustainable growth in the entitlement programs-including Medicare, Social security and Medicaid," with health care costs the most troublesome.

He is also distressed that "the Democratic candidates don't seem to be willing to give the American people straight talk about that, but I think people are ready for it."

Entitlement reforms are pressing, he added, because of "the demographic changes that come with the Baby Boom generation's retiring and the fact that health care costs continue to spiral."

"So, I think there is an opportunity here for Sen. McCain, " he adds.

Portman is very encouraged that McCain talks about the spending issue on the campaign trail, singling out entitlement and earmark reforms. "He has a passion for this," Portman insists.

Back in the 1960s, Portman notes, "all of these mandatory spending programs were about 25% of the budget, or less. Today when you add Social security, Medicare, Medicaid, payment on the debt, and some other smaller entitlements, particularly on the agricultural side you end up with almost 64% of the budget. And that's a huge shift when you think about the fact that "Domestic discretionary spending is now only 18% of our total budget, and that's what we spend our whole time arguing about.

"So, someone needs to talk about this in generational terms, and I think John McCain will do it. I think the Democrats are irresponsible not to address it."

Portman went on to say how in the Bush budgets that he and present OMB Director Jim Nussle helped sculpt, "you'll find some very specific reforms that have gotten very little play." He still approves of carving out "private accounts" from Social security, "which over the long haul will result in a higher rate of return for that program and help deal with the solvency issue.".