McCain has no national service plan

By BEN ADLER, Politico

John McCain, who’s predicated his presidential run in no small part on his distinguished military record, frequently exhorts Americans — and especially young Americans — to serve their country. Despite that appeal, he has yet to offer any proposals to expand or transform national service outside of the military.

Barack Obama, by contrast, has proposed dramatically expanding Americorps and the Peace Corps, adding 65,000 members to the military and creating an annual $4,000 tax credit for post-secondary education in exchange for 100 hours of community service.

Although McCain joined most congressional Republicans in 1993 to oppose the creation of the Americorps program when President Bill Clinton proposed it, he later became a prominent supporter. He teamed with Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) in 2001 to introduce legislation to expand service programs, and again worked with Bayh and other Democrats to convince President Bush not to cut funding for the program in 2003.

"John McCain has constantly spoken to the need for young Americans to serve a cause greater than their self-interest," said McCain spokesman Joseph Pounder. "McCain's campaign is all about a cause greater than yourself," echoed Jessica Colon, chairwoman of the Young Republican National Federation.

But the McCain campaign will not commit to releasing a plan for expanding service opportunities. A senior policy adviser said only that they are "studying options for national service." When asked why he does not have a service proposal, Pounder would only say that McCain is proud of his past support for service programs and has exhorted audiences to serve in this campaign.

The leading Democratic candidates all released service plans last year, and Mike Huckabee frequently articulated a general intention to increase national service opportunities.

Others running in the Republican primary, including McCain, said little about service programs, which some members of the Republican base consider unnecessary spending that interferes with more effective private sector efforts.

When Time magazine last month asked both candidates to contribute an essay on patriotism, McCain wrote on the obligations of the citizen and gave pride of place to “the communal spaces where government is absent, anywhere Americans come together to govern their lives and their communities — in families, churches, synagogues, museums, symphonies, the Little League, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the Salvation Army or the VFW. They are the habits and institutions that preserve democracy.” While he later brought up military service, he made no mention of Americorps or any other national civilian service program.

The Obama campaign projects his national service plans would cost about $3.5 billion per year, and says that it would pay for the plan by canceling a tax provision that helps multinational corporations reduce their U.S. tax burden and by using some of the savings associated with ending the war in Iraq.

Obama has promoted his service agenda in major speeches aimed at younger audiences. In his commencement address at Wesleyan University over Memorial Day Weekend, Obama repeated his pledge, first made in Iowa last December, to increase Americorps slots from 75,000 to 250,000 annually and to double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. He made no mention of military service in that speech.

In a speech on national service delivered earlier this month in Denver, though, he heavily emphasized military service and has said that he wants to add 65,000 troops.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers responded to the speech by saying that "it was refreshing to hear Barack Obama laud military service in his speech today," a backhanded compliment intended to highlight its omission from Obama’s Wesleyan speech.

"I'm quite certain that the McCain people are working on a proposal," said William A. Schambra, director of the conservative Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. "Some of his advisers are longtime supporters [of service]. McCain is likely to have the strongest service component of any Republican in recent times."

Schambra doubts, though, that whatever plan McCain does introduce will match Obama's in scope. "[McCain's plan] is not likely to be as expensive and sweeping as the Obama proposal. Obama has a very extensive program, has for a long time," he said.

While polls have never shown national service to be an issue that moves many voters, the programs remain overwhelmingly popular among the young people who are the most likely to participate in them.

Ian Rowe, who worked on service programs in the Bush administration and is now vice president of strategic partnerships at MTV, wrote in an e-mail, "It's not surprising this 'take-action' generation will most likely gravitate to the candidate who makes service a central part of their message."