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The Mythos of McCain (w/Thanks to Francesca Hamilton)
There's a certain Mythos that has attached to John McCain regarding his expertise in National Security-Military-Foreign Policy matters.
Its foundation rests on two blocks of concrete, in the public's mind:
1. His father retired from the US Navy as a four star Admiral who served as CINCPAC during the VietWar; his grandfather also retired from the US Navy with the ranks of four star Admiral. Those are facts, and make for a fine family history.
John McCain himself did not achieve the rank of four star Admiral in the US Navy, however. And, second;
2. John McCain was held by the Viets as a POW for something like 5 years and certainly underwent serious physical and mental abuse by his captors. He suffered those abuses in the service of his country.
That is a fact, and it cannot be taken away from him.
He has stressed his military service during his political career, and does so now. His bravery and general toughness is beyond question...the guy's no wimp.
But now he is being called upon to transcend physical bravery and demonstrate to the voting public that he has the intellectual skills required on a president, a Commander in Chief, a rank even his distinguished father and grandfather did not achieve.
Candidate McCain is not doing a very persuasive job of demonstrating the deep thinking required of a president, nor of a four star Admiral, for that matter. The campaign is exposing his confusion and superficial understanding of the politico-military issues facing the United States in Iraq and elsewhere. Only the most partisan of Republicans could argue that McCain has thus-far displayed the intellect, the nuanced thought, required of a president.
His Democrat opponent merely has to stand aside and let McCain speak. As the words flow from his mouth, his status as a national security diminish, word-by-simplistic-inaccurate-word.
I'd still like to see Obama pick Biden or Ret. four star Admiral Falon as his running mate, more for Barack's own good than anything else.
But McCain is killing himself softly, with his own words.
Comments (4)
Obama cannot simply stand by and let McCain speak, waiting for the voters to realize McCain is an empty uniform. Too many pundits, many on "leftish" media, repeatedly state that McCain has the edge on national security without taking the time to analyze McCain's rather thin resume. He finished in the 1 percentile in his Naval Academy class. And while I wouldn't wish his imprisonment on anyone, friend or foe, he was sitting in a cell during the war, not leading troops. But that doesn't matter. In the MSM, the story is the blurb, the sound bite. Obama, and especially his surrogates, have to attack the notion of McCain as military leader. We in the blogosphere need to visit less friendly sites and raise these questions about his actual experience, and about his apparent lack of understanding of the current situation overseas.
June 14, 2008 10:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fredrick,
June 15, 2008 1:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, for some reason the above self posted.
Before I was so rudely interrupted I was going to write: Excellent article and I especially appreciated, "But McCain is killing himself softly, with his own words."
June 15, 2008 1:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Does McSame do anything `softly`? I find him strident.
You know, when everyone but the troglodytes knew withdrawal from Vietnam was essential, there was McCain spouting `We must never surrender.`
More than thirty years later, here we go again...
`I will *never* surrender.`
He keeps reminding me of a biofilm I saw about Churchill - as an adolescent loving playing with his toy soldiers at Marlborough - replaying great military battles.
sigh
June 15, 2008 6:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
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