The Case for John McCain

This will come as a shock to no one who has read anything that I've written or posted on the web: I support John McCain for President of the United States. I've never laid out the reasons why, although my opinions on various policy issues, both foreign and domestic, make the reasons for my support of McCain obvious to even the most casual of observers.

Yesterday, October 24, I read an opinion piece in the Washington Post by conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer in which he told his very large readership why he was voting for John McCain. It struck home with me, and I present his column for you here. Not in its entirety, of course (wouldn't want to break any copyright laws). The entire article can be found here.

Krauthammer begins by taking issue with Republicans (notice I didn't say conservatives; they are not the same thing) who have jumped ship and flocked to the Obama endorsement bandwagon: "I stand athwart the rush of conservative ship-jumpers of every stripe - neo (Ken Adelman), moderate (Colin Powell), genetic / ironic (Christopher Buckley) and socialist / atheist (Christopher Hitchens) - yelling 'Stop!" I shall have no part of this motley crew. I will go down with the McCain ship. I'd rather lose an election than lose my bearings."

Talking about the claim of McCain's temperament and sometimes rash decision-making, Krauthammer says, "First I'll have no truck with the phony case ginned up to rationalize voting for the most liberal and inexperienced presidential nominee in living memory. The 'erratic' temperament issue, for example. As if McCain's risky and unsuccessful but in no way irrational attempt to tactically maneuver his way through the economic tsunami that came crashing down a month ago renders unfit for office a man who demonstrated the most admirable equanimity and courage in the face of unimaginable pressures as a prisoner of war, and who later steadily navigated innumerable challenges and setbacks, not the least of which was the collapse of his campaign just a year ago. McCain the 'erratic' is a cheap Obama talking point. The 40-year record testifies to McCain the stalwart."

Krauthammer also discounts the charge of dirty campaigning. I personally never cared about this charge, given that all elections feature "dirty" campaigning and that both Obama and McCain have been proven to stretch the truth, to put it mildly, in this presidential contest.

In discussing the questions surrounding Obama's "associations," Krauthammer writes, "McCain's critics are offended that he raised the issue of William Ayers. What's astonishing is that Obama was himself not offended by William Ayers. Moreover, the most remarkable of all tactical choices of this election season is the attack that never was. Out of extreme (and unnecessary) conscientiousness, McCain refused to raise the legitimate issue of Obama's most egregious association - with the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Dirty campaigning, indeed."

In making the case for McCain, Krauthammer recognizes that the current economic woes will pass. Our economy is cyclical. There are ups and downs, good times and bad. But the world around us is growing increasingly dangerous, and the threats to our nation are expected to remain constant.

Krauthammer says, "The financial crisis has made us forget, or just blindly deny, how dangerous the world out there is. We have a generations-long struggle with Islamic jihadism. An apocalyptic soon-to-be-nuclear Iran. A nuclear-armed Pakistan in danger of fragmentation. A rising Russia pushing the limits of revanchism. Plus the sure-to-come Falklands-like surprise popping out of nowhere."

"Who do you want answering that phone at 3 a.m.? A man who's been cramming on these issues for the past year, who's never had to make an executive decision affecting so much as a city, let alone the world?"

"Or," Krauthammer writes, "do you want a man who is the most prepared, most knowledgeable, most serious foreign policy thinker in the United States Senate? A man who not only has the best instincts but has the honor and the courage to, yes, put country first, as when he carried the lonely fight for the surge that turned Iraq from catastrophic defeat into achievable strategic victory?"

The choice, for me, is an easy one. I encourage you, no matter who you support, to read Krauthammer's article. Not because I expect it to change anyone's mind, but because it is a well-written column argued from the heart, and I appreciate that kind of writing, no matter what the author's viewpoint may be. I leave you with Krauthammer's conclusion:

"Today's economic crisis, like every other in our history, will in time pass. But the barbarians will still be at the gates. Whom do you want on the parapet? I'm for the guy who can tell the lion from the lamb."