McCain Takes a Stand Against Affirmative Action

John McCain has come out in support of a proposed ballot initiative in his home state of Arizona that would bar public colleges and other state agencies from using racial and ethnic preferences.

He announced his support for the measure in an interview last month on ABC’s This Week.

The position that Senator McCain took was regarded as a reversal of his stand on the issue a decade ago. Back in 1998, he had called such measures “divisive.” Referenda with language like the Arizona ballot measure’s also have been proposed in Colorado and Nebraska.

Barack Obama told a gathering of minority journalists in Chicago that he was “disappointed” in the position Senator McCain had taken and described such ballot measures as “all too often designed to drive a wedge between people.”

Senator Obama provided detailed responses to questions about his stance on affirmative action in an interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education conducted last fall.