Obama, McCain agree on many once-divisive issues

For Amy Rick, the 2008 presidential election is a win-win situation. Both Barack Obama and John McCain support an expansion of stem-cell research that she has battled for in vain under President Bush.

"Both are very solid," said Rick, president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research. "We are definitely looking forward with optimism to a change in policy in 2009."

John Isaacs, an arms control advocate, feels the same way, because both candidates have made nuclear nonproliferation a priority. "We'll have major progress on nuclear issues no matter who is elected," said Isaacs, executive director of the Council for a Livable World.

Stem-cell research and nuclear weapons are just two examples of a surprising but little-noticed aspect of the 2008 campaign: Democrat Obama and Republican McCain agree on a range of issues that have divided the parties under Bush.

On immigration, faith-based social services, expanded government wiretapping, global warming and more, Obama and McCain have arrived at similar stances -- even as they have spent weeks trying to amplify the differences between them on other issues, such as healthcare and taxes.

Even on Iraq, a signature issue for both candidates, McCain and Obama have edged toward each other.

The result is that in many areas of policy, the general direction of the next White House seems already set, even if the details are not.

The centrist consensus on many issues underscores an important dynamic in the 2008 political climate: At a time of growing frustration with gridlock and partisan bickering in Washington, politicians with a pragmatic, middle-course tack are thriving. In both parties, the more strident, ideological presidential candidates lost in the primaries.

This development also shows how this presidential election differs from the last. Whereas both political parties in 2004 focused on mobilizing their most ardent supporters, this campaign's battle is focusing on the political middle.

The convergence is in large measure a result of McCain's record of defying the GOP party line. But Obama too has been tacking to the center lately on a number of fronts, including trade, government wiretapping policy and the death penalty.

"It debunks the common view that Obama is the most liberal Democratic senator," Isaacs said. "And it debunks the view that McCain is really the third Bush term."