This is the third in the series of head-to-head comparisons of the answers Obama and McCain gave at the Saddleback Civil Forum. This time the topic is "evil."

WARREN: Okay we've got time for one last [question] -- I've got a bunch more [but] let me ask you ask you one in evil. Does evil exist and if it does, do we ignore it, do we negotiate with it, do we contain it or do we defeat it?

OBAMA: Evil does exist. I mean we see evil all the time. We see evil in Darfur. We see evil, sadly on the streets of our cities. We see evil in parents who have viciously abused their children and I think it has to be confronted. It has to be confronted squarely and one of the things that I strongly believe is that, you know, we are not going to, as individuals, be able to erase evil from the world. That is God's task. But we can be soldiers in that process and we can confront it when we see it. Now the one thing that I think is very important is for us to have some humility in how we approach the issue of confronting evil. But, you know, a lot of evil has been perpetrated based on the  claim that we were trying to confront evil.

WARREN: In the name of "good?"

OBAMA: In the name of good. And I think one thing that's very important is having some humility in recognizing that, you know, just because we think our intentions are good, it doesn't always mean that we're going to be doing good.

WARREN: Alright, let's move on to some domestic issues.

Obama sees evil as an inanimate concept which can manifest or be personified in a variety of different forms -- as something faith can help to resolve.

On the other hand we have McCain's response:

WARREN: How about the issue of evil? I asked this of your rival in the previous thing. Does evil exist and if so, should we ignore it, negotiate with it, contain it or defeat it?

McCAIN: Defeat it. Couple of points, one, if I'm President of the United States, my friends, if I have to follow him to the gates of hell, I will get Osama Bin Laden and bring him to justice. I will do that and I know how to do that. I will get that done. No one should be allowed to take thousands of American -- innocent American lives. Of course evil must be defeated. My friends, we are facing the transcendant challenge of the 21st century, radical Islamic extremists. Not long ago in Baghdad, Al Queda took two young women who were mentally disabled and put suicide vests on them, sent them into a marketplace and by remote control detonated those suicide vests. If that isn't evil, you have to tell me what is and we're going to defeat this evil and the central battle ground according to David Petraeus and Osama Bin Laden is the battles -- is Baghdad, Mosul and Iraq and we are winning and we are succeeding and our troops will come home with honor and victory and not defeat and that's what's happening. We  have -- and we face this threat throughout the world. It's not just in Iraq. It's not just in Afghanistan. Our intelligence people tell us Al Queda contunues to try to establish cells here in America. My friends, we must face this challenge. We can face this challenge and we must totally defeat it and we're in a long struggle, but when I'm around the young men and women who are serving this nation in uniform, I have no doubt. None.

WARREN: Alright. The next questions have to do with domestic issues.

One simple follow up question for McCain: If getting Osama Bin Laden is so important, if you are willing to follow him to the gates of hell, if you know how to do it, why has that NOT been your priority since 9-11? How did you get stuck in Iraq and not focused like a laser beam on OBL?

In the process of entering McCain's answer to the question here, I am struck by his obsession with victory and defeat, with his overwhelming need for "victory" with "honor." Playing armchair shrink, I see a man consumed by his personal failure in Vietnam -- exacerbated by his status as POW, and not "medal of honor" winner or "flying ace" (like even the disgraced and jailed Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham) -- a man afflicted by coming home to a country that did not hold his military exploits in as high esteem as they did for his father and grandfather. If he is not haunted by the failure of the Vietnam War, why the fixation on "winning" (at any cost), "victory" (undefined and not achievable), "success" and "honor." Is Iraq McCain's chance at Vietnam redemption?

For McCain "evil" is an excuse to re-fight Vietnam again and again and again.