Will Sinema make habit of breaking promises?

Here is candidate Kyrsten Sinema in July, on Chuck Schumer’s future as Senate minority leader:

“I am not going to vote for him,” she flatly told Politico.

Well, here is Sinema on Wednesday, shortly after Schumer was re-elected Senate minority leader by acclamation. Nobody objected.

“Had there been a challenger for minority leader, I would have considered new leadership and a fresh perspective,” she said in a statement. “I will continue to put Arizona over party.”

This from the woman who on Monday, in her victory speech, vowed to follow the example set by the late Sen. John McCain. “(He) stood for everything we stand for as Arizonans,” she said. “Fighting for what you believe in, (and) standing up for what’s right, even if you stand alone.”

McCain was the self-proclaimed maverick who wasn’t afraid to buck his party. Sinema is the self-proclaimed independent who wasn’t afraid to dump on her party.

Of course, that was then, when she was running to snag those all-important votes from center and centerright voters. And this, apparently, is now, when she’s ... not.

Democrats are rushing to Sinema’s defense, pointing out that there was no one else to vote for, and besides that, she’s a freshman senator who needs to stay on Schumer’s good side to get anything done. And besides that, they say, it’s “petty” for me to point out her broken pledge — which, they reason, wasn’t a broken pledge at all because there was no vote.

“No one else ran,” one reader told me. “What do you think she should do? Maybe the answer was not vote? Maybe as a freshman senator-elect there aren’t many answers? It seems to me as I read your column that you are being petty and trying to get the Republicans, that you have invariably angered, to like you again.”

Or maybe I’m just suggesting that if you repeatedly say on the campaign trail that you’re going to do something — like, say, not vote for Schumer — then you ought to keep your promise. Like, say, by standing up and objecting to his being elected by acclamation. Not a great start, Senator.

If you can’t keep this rather simple and straightforward promise, then ...

Of course, that was then, when she was running to snag those all-important votes from center and center-right voters. And this, apparently, is now, when she’s ... not.