Top Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain - Relying on Integrity

John McCain was born in August of 1936 which means he will be 71 soon and 72 at the time of the presidential elections. Projecting ahead it would also mean that McCain would be 76 the next time the Presidency comes up for a vote. Given these statistics it is very likely that the Presidential election of 2008 will be the last reasonable chance John McCain has to win the office. Yet despite the extraordinarily high stakes, Sen. John McCain of Arizona seems determined to let it all stand or fall on the integrity of his pro-Iraq War position. One can only wonder how wise a political move this may turn out to be.

John McCain, on a limb by himself. More than any other U. S. Senator, Congressman or other political figure, John McCain, represents the pro-War faction in the United States. Critical of President Bush during the last four years over a variety of issues, including the equipping and deploying of U. S. troops, McCain has been seen as more supportive of the current military option being employed by the commander-in-chief and his minions. While most other presidential candidates and the majority of both houses of Congress continue to maneuver to force the President's hand and get us out of Iraq, Senator McCain stands with very few others who are speaking in favor of the surge strategy and suggesting that even more manpower and munitions be targeted to complete the job.

This unique position allows McCain to achieve lots of publicity and free air time and it makes him appear as a leader and not just a part of the pack that is jumping from the sinking ship. John McCain's pro-War position unites him with the military arm of our nation which is a comfortable position for a man who was educated at the United States Naval Academy and then served his country in Viet Nam. Having survived the Viet Nam war, but also remembering it in part as an unfinished mission, McCain seems fully committed to speaking out in favor of continuing the war until it is won. This position continues to give him both a uniqueness and a great deal of visibility as he sits out on the end of a rather shaky limb pretty much by himself.

The Value of Integrity. What John McCain has made clear in his speeches and in the Presidential debates is that his position on Iraq is not just a matter of a military judgment. His stand is also a microcosm of who John McCain the candidate really is, a man of integrity. John McCain with some precision can look around at presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle who voted in favor of the war in Iraq at the outset but now have drifted away. McCain tauts his own consistency as a sign of his character. His positions are constants. He takes a stand and is not likely to be moved from it. He is, as he hopes voters will agree, a man of integrity, a man who can be trusted, a man deserving of their vote as he runs for the office of the President.

McCain also attempts to show that the integrity of his unswerving support of the war in Iraq is the same quality that voters will discover in his position on other campaign issues such as abortion, Roe v. Wade, and immigration. McCain's integrity is not something cemented to a single issue like the war. Integrity is what characterizes his person from top to bottom. McCain can be outspoken, testy, even harsh at times but he makes a good case when he insists that there is no guile at work here. John McCain will attract people by his honesty, forthrightness, consistency and integrity or not at all. It is a powerful combination of personal traits that other contenders may not be able to match.

Being True to What Fails. The problem, of course with a campaign based on personal integrity can be the issues that one chooses to fight on. Having taken a stand in favor of the war in Iraq and sticking with it, no matter what, can be seen as a mark of personal integrity. But other candidates have already begun to raise the issue of riding the wrong horse forever. If the war in Iraq is wrong, if it turns out as some have said to be the wrong war and the wrong time, in the wrong place, then in the end sticking by something that wrong might qualify a person as both a person of integrity and a person who is just willfully blind.

John McCain is running for the presidency and he is gambling that voters are interested in choosing men of integrity to be the national leader. This is a very dangerous gamble. For the issue that McCain has glued himself to is one that becomes more unpopular by the day with American voters. As sons, daughters, fathers, brothers and friends lose their lives in what seems an unending battle to establish democracy in Iraq, the patience of America is being tested. Their admiration for the abstract concept of integrity may be intact, but the public following for the man with integrity who keeps America at war may tend to wane.

John McCain can call his position on the war in Iraq the right thing to do and the act of a man of integrity but what John McCain is also doing is playing a very daring political game. If the war continues to go poorly, the casualties continue to mount and no victory seems in sight, the integrity of his position, while laudable, will likely cost him either the party nomination, the election or both. On the other hand should Providence smile on the forces of the U. S., the war in Iraq take a turn for the better and victory seem within reach, then John McCain's integrity might turn out to be a very speedy vehicle on the road to the White House. Only time and to a great extent situations beyond his control will most likely determine his fate. Most politicians would shy away from that political approach. But not John McCain, a man of integrity.