McCain will clean up Washington

In the Aug. 22 series DukeVotes: On government reform, Trinity sophomore Benjamin Bergmann's column, "Changing the culture of Washington," defending Senator Barack Obama ignored Obama's previous record of blatantly breaking promises to increase his chances of winning an election. What guarantee do we have that an Obama administration won't be corrupted by leftist special interests? If it is only his words and brief political experience, then that is not saying much. If Obama's complete reversal on the federal election finance program is any indication, he will surely act with similar disregard for the interests of the American people regarding government reform.

Senator John McCain is the only candidate running for president with a 25-year track record of fighting special interests. He is the only candidate that kept his promise to adhere to campaign finance reform. He has spoken out against corruption in his own party, leading the investigation against former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. McCain will clean up Washington by exposing pork barrel legislation, eliminating earmarks, passing the line-item veto and banning all gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers. We need substance and experience to reform government, not political verbosity.

Jake Bullock

Trinity '11