My Man McCain

A kid named "Nasty," An adult named Maverick and a man all should call sir.

What you are now reading is the result of a huge amount of confusion about the presidential elections due to take place this November. The confusion is mine, and is the result of an inescapable bias and the result of a loss of objectivity that takes over when I consider the limited qualifications of the young eloquent senator with the mouth from the south side of Chicago and comparing them to the qualifications of my man, Johnny Mc Cain who has been around the block as a kid and "around the horn" as a young adult.
And then, I become aware of how little there is to compare. Johnny "has been there and done that." Obama was still learning how to shave when. Johnny was busy being shot at, getting hit and crashing a Phantom Jet. If I understand things correctly, while Johnny was getting busted up, Obama was doing little more than stubbing his toe on a basket ball court. Johnny has survived five years in a POW camp and gotten himself beaten up for recognizing and refusing liberation as a propaganda ploy. Pride, self discipline and a whole lot about honor and country were pounded into my guy at the Naval Academy while Obama attended Harvard and with the aid of grants and loans graduated as what many have described as an elitist. But even more importantly, my guy survived those many years in a political arena, taken firm stands on controversial issues and engaged in what many agree is a blood sport where he not only survived but has gone on to prevail with his honor intact; and don't let anyone attempt to subtract from that.
One of McCain's closest friends is a little Israeli named Joey Lieberman who is described by many as the conscious of the senate, a man with the guts to challenge the behavior of an ill advised sitting president. More friends are men who have taken off of and landed on something that looks like a tombstone from great heights. These are men who can handle ugly and unshakable truths. Obama has associates with deep pockets who he has captivated with an oratorical eloquence that states little more than the manta, yes we can, but ignores political realities and the needs of our country. Obama has accomplished little more than complete a few short years as a senator where he apparently alienated no one by voting present on important legislation rather than summoning the courage to take a clear stand and defend it.
Johnny is a recognized maverick. He is also said to have a temper; and I say good for him. Only the few who can handle the truth and have the courage have publicly stepped forward to thank McCain for exposing the weaknesses of a Secretary of Defense or for the political reputation that he cherishes as a result of the success of "The McCain Surge" that has saved the lives of so many of our young men who are defending our country. How soon so many of us forget and how easily so many of us accept the abuse of a major news paper that presents an American general, who has earned ribbons with the combat stars nailed to them as a traitor, but that is another lousy story.

My Obama may reach for the mantel of a young John F. Kennedy and perhaps rightly so: make no mistake, this is a beautiful thing. But those who have forgotten should be reminded that President Kennedy's Camelot had a "darker side," much of it the product of this young and inexperienced president. Mistakes bordering on the tragic were allowed to take place.

. The withdrawal of a promise of air support at the last moment for the men landing on the beaches at The Bay of Pigs resulted in the immediate collapse and imprisonment of good soldiers on the ground. His willingness to wade deeper into a politically corrupt Viet nam that led to the brutal assassination of the country's leaders, the complete breakdown of social order in a war torn country, and the images of the helicopters taking off and landing on the roof top of an American embassy surrounded by enemies and caught in a final throes of a country's agony are undeniable; There is also the account provided by the respected news journalist Walter Lippmann who described the figure of a young "white faced and shaken Kennedy" that emerged from Geneva after a brutal confrontation with the saber rattling Nikita Khrushchev. Kennedy had been advised to" approach Khrushchev with "self-confidence and patience", but our country's young president saw the meeting as a "test of will" The result was the costly arms race that had followed immediately, but might have been avoided

Would a more experienced and wiser Johnny McCain make the same mistakes under the same circumstances? Go figure. But almost certainly, with the advantages of McCain's history of recognized leadership, war experience, and time spent in the examination of foreign affairs that all candidates should posses, the tragedy of the "Bay of Pigs Fiasco" would not have been allowed to take place. The logic that led to the horrible miscalculations of Vietnam would not have been allowed to take form. At the conference table in Vienna, there is little doubt that the Maverick known as McCain would probably have flipped the peckerwood from the USSR the proverbial American bird, provided the man a shot of good American made booze, and a less belligerent exchange of ideas. A firm handshake may have followed allowing the leaders of two powerful countries located on separate continents to return to their homeland with their honor intact.

The probability of Mr. Obama's future selection as a more prepared president of our country at some time in the future would have been almost certain. Let me suggest that the gentleman from Chicago would have done better to wait and mature under the care and feeding of older, more experience and wiser heads. Like a young and talented prize fighter who is trained and managed by wise coaches with white hair and battle scares, the senator from Illinois would be held back, urged to make haste slowly, to train and watch and learn more before entering a prize ring against a far superior adversary too soon and too poorly prepared. A man with the speed, skill and moves of a well trained Mohamed Ali would stretch the senator from Chicago out on the floor in four; the strength and force of a George Foreman would pound the young man into the ground. Being confronted by the perseverance, fierceness, and determination of a Joe Frazier is not a pleasant thing. Rocky Marciano who when entering the ring at 187 pounds is said to be capable of putting either hand threw anything less than eight inches of reinforced concrete is someone to hide from. I wish Obama well, but I fear for our country under the care of this man with so "grievous" an ambition and so poorly prepared.

Let the campaigning continue. Allow each of us take the measure of our candidate, but when doing so each of us would do well to ask what more any great country might ask of its citizens than what Johnny McCain, a gentleman from Arizona has provided his.