John McCain, Former POW

I got into a discussion with my parents recently about why they want to vote for John Mccain. Usually I hate to get into political arguments with them or anyone because the majority of the time, it goes absolutely nowhere. This time, my curiosity got the best of me and I wondered why, whenever those close to me mentioned their support of Mccain, the first point they came up with was that he was a POW.

I'm sorry, wouldn't it be a bad idea to put a former Prisoner of War in the presidential office? Maybe it's because I'm young and don't really understand everything that there is to know about the Republican candidate, but I don't think that his previous POW status is a plus for our country. Yes, he proved his loyalty and bravery during his time in captivity, but was does that have to do with the war that we are involved in now? The fact that he was in the military is a plus, I believe because he has a knowledge and an understanding of what the troops are going through, but we won't necessarily be in a war for the next four years, at least I hope not.

Does this give Mccain better negotiating skills? Does it make foreign leaders more likely to listen and cooperate with him? Personally, I don't think it does. I'm not saying that he is most definetly not the man for the job, I'm just trying to understand why people think that him being a POW makes him the better candidate. Don't POW's have health problems majority of the time? If not physical then mental? Am I the only one who is concerned about this? Are the citizens of this country going to vote for Mccain because they are confident in his leadership skills or because he was a POW and they feel they owe him the Presidential Office?