The only similarity between the two stories is a cross in the dirt, but it is hardly an unlikely coincidence that there were practicing Christians in both Russia and Vietnam, or that in the prisons of those two Communist countries the only crosses to be found were etched in the dirt, as easily disappeared as the Christians who drew them.

But those desperate to discredit Senator McCain's record will have to impugn his fellow prisoners as well. Orson Swindle, who was held as a prisoner of war along with McCain, tells the McCain Report that he heard this particular story from McCain "when we first moved in together." That was in the summer of 1971, Swindle said, though "time blurred" and he couldn't be sure. He said it was some time around then that the Vietnamese moved all "36 troublemakers" into the same quarters, where they "talked about everything under the sun."

That said, I was really troubled by a quote I read in Slate.com today where a few (and I stress the word ‘few’) Hillary supporters attending her concession rally today.  When asked about Obama and their professed support of John McCain:

<blockquote>“He’s [Obama] a do-nothing.” But would she really prefer a McCain administration? “It bothers me a lot, but at least we can unelect him in four years.”</blockquote>

For those Clinton supporters who share this sentiment; I beg of you to think through the consequences of a McCain presidency.  

First, don’t be confident you can easily ‘un-elect’ McCain in 2012.  Defeating an incumbent president is extremely difficult.  In 2004, a large portion of the country clearly understood Bush was a moron; yet he got reelected.  Whether we Democrats like to admit it or not; Bill Clinton would have never been elected in 1992 without a major assist from Ross Perot.  When he won, he did it with only 43% of the popular vote.  If ever there were a president in a weak position coming into office, it was Clinton.  Once in office, he lost control of Congress, saw his major initiative (healthcare) fail spectacularly and was beset by scandal.  Despite all this; he was overwhelmingly reelected in 1996.

But let’s set this all aside and assume McCain is defeated in 2012; the four years between now and then could see him cause considerable damage to the values we hold dear.  Here are just a few examples:

1) IRAQ, IRAN & GAS PRICES

Let’s be realistic; withdrawal from Iraq is going to be difficult regardless of who is our next president, but McCain has repeatedly stated that he is committed to STAY in Iraq come hell or high water.  He may be unelected in 4 years, but how many more of our soldiers will have to die during this time?  How many families will be shattered?  How many children will grow up without a mother or father?  How many more innocent Iraqis will meet the same fate?  How many of our young people will return with horrible physical and mental scars which will never heal? 

Worse yet; McCain has given every indication he has no qualms starting another war with Iran.  Do I even need to explain why this isn’t a good idea?  Even if it were limited to air strikes and somehow avoided any type of ground war; has it occurred to anybody how this would like result in a full-blown Shia uprising next door in Iraq?  The place would explode and we’d be force to either flee with our tails between our legs, or reinstitute a draft and send 500,000 troops over there to brutally crush any type of uprising.  I think it’s safe to say that this option is – rightfully – unthinkable. 

We can’t ‘unelect’ this.

Wanna know part of the reason oil prices are so high?  Oil is traded based on ‘futures’, i.e. contracts to purchase and sell oil based on what analysts think oil will be going for at a set time in the future.  When the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, recently stated he felt an attack on Iran was unavoidable in the near future; energy analysts speculated that this would result in a massive disruption of future oil supplies in the near future, so the price of oil continues to rise.  If Iran’s oil goes offline for whatever reason; HELLO $300 a barrel oil!  Hello $11 gas!  Hello working families who cannot afford to drive their cars to get to work!  Hello families in the Northeastern United States who cannot afford to heat their homes because heating oil has become prohibitively expensive!  Hello higher food prices (which hit struggling families the hardest) because distributors pass increased transportation costs onto consumers! 

You can’t ‘unelect’ this.

2) HEALTH CARE

 McCain has no plan to provide universal healthcare to Americans.  Can we really wait another 4 years (when the political climate may not be nearly as favorable as it is now) to do this?  How many families between now and 2012 will lose everything because they are uninsured but find themselves dealing with a major illness/injury?  How many single mothers will continue to work dead-end jobs and be unable to improve their family’s lot because they cannot risk losing insurance?  How many of these same single mothers will be forced to choose between paying the rent and taking a sick child to the doctor’s office? 

You can’t ‘unelect’ this.

3) THE SUPREME COURT

The Court is already 5-4 in favor of conservative justices.  Add another 2 or 3 and you can kiss positive rulings for progressive causes (including a woman’s right to choose) away for the next 30 years.  Our gay and lesbian friends may want to consider this when they ponder the future of any rulings vis-à-vis gay marriage. 

You can’t ‘unelect’ this either. 

I could continue this list all night and still barely scratch the surface (one of which is legislation supporting equal pay for women, which McCain has regularly come out against), but I think you see where I’m coming from.

You don’t have to like Obama – or many of his supporters for that matter – but I hope you will consider the true impacts of a McCain presidency.  I hope you will consider its affects on ordinary Americans and you will not support him – even if this means holding your nose and voting for Obama.  You may loathe him now, but he will fight to make sure we never have answer all the rhetorical questions listed above.   

Had just a few things during this primary turned out differently and Obama were the one giving the concession speech today; you would have found me pulling that lever for Hillary this November.  The stakes are just too high to give the Republicans another 4 years in the White House. 

Bill is a huge liability and I personally think he acted like a complete and utter douche during this campaign, but there is one thing you cannot deny: He is still hugely popular among many of the people who supported Hillary.  I'll also bet Bill does do some campaigning for Obama. It allows him to remain relevant and indulges his penchant to be an attention whore.  Allowing him to do so, will make sure the Clintons remain friendly.

We may not like it, but having the Clintons for allies makes Obama’s path to the Whitehouse much easier.  Just sayin…