WASHINGTON -- Think of it! Since early 2007 ambitious
politicians have cluttered up the news with their campaigns for the
presidency. Giants such as Dennis Kucinich, Joe Biden, and Bill
Richardson have tantalized us with the possibility that America
could, under their leadership, become the new Athens. Finally,
three months ago the field was reduced to three candidates, and now
it is down to two. Usually the last leg of a presidential campaign
begins after Labor Day. From all I can tell, the last leg of
Campaign '08 is already under way. Every day until Election Day,
November 4, the American people are going to be assailed by the two
candidates' clever rhetorical sallies, shocking exposes, pratfalls,
and all the other cheap tricks that contribute to a candidate's
presidential campaign. Is the thing possible? Will anyone still be
paying attention come November?
Half the American people do not vote, and after this marathon
campaign that number might well increase, owing to one of history's
rarely noted undercurrents, sheer boredom. Yes, dissatisfaction is
an undercurrent of history. That is what the Prophet Obama is
relying on when he intones his mantra: "Change!" Nor is he the
first presidential candidate to use this mantra. Bill Clinton
relied on it in 1992. Well, boredom might also explain the
electorates' yearning for "Change," and if Americans are bored
after this election their boredom will be understandable.
However, another element of history is biography, a fact agreed
upon by Carlyle and Emerson. The Obama biography is brief, as
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested in deriding his lack of
"experience." Obama's is an interesting biography, but it does not
recommend him for the presidency, not yet. Senator John McCain's
biography by contrast is vast, and it does indeed recommend him for
the presidency.
In preparing an essay on McCain recently, I took the occasion to
review the McCain biography. It revealed two things that the
candidate will undoubtedly be emphasizing. The first is character.
The second is management. Consider the second first, for McCain's
achievements as a manager are unusual for a senator. Senators
usually have little record as managers. That is why governors make
superior presidential candidates. An American president has to
manage the largest organization in the world. As is typical of a
senator, Obama has little managerial achievement. In fact there is
only one. He organized Chicago community activists to channel money
into their neighborhoods. That is not much of an achievement when
compared to the achievements in McCain's biography, and Obama's
community organizing put him in with some decidedly unsavory
characters, for instance, the 1960s radical, Bill Ayers, an
unrepentant bomb maker, and Antoin Rezko, the recently convicted
conman.
McCain's management skills have yet to be publicized. After he
came back from his five and a half years as a POW, McCain took
command of the Navy's largest squadron, a force of A-7 attack
aircraft. It was the largest by a lot. Most such squadrons in those
days numbered 12 to 25. McCain's numbered 75, putting him in charge
of a budget of over a billion dollars. This was during the
post-Vietnam years, when Washington was cutting back on the
military budget, and the McCain squadron was short on parts,
maintenance crews, and even fuel. Some 25 of his aircraft were
permanently disabled "hangar queens." Morale was low. In what John
Lehman, secretary of the navy in the Reagan Administration, has
called "a near miracle of leadership and management," McCain
restored morale and got all 75 A-7s up and running. Fellow officers
did not think it was possible, which brings us to the question of
character.
After leaving Hanoi, McCain was never expected to fly again,
such was the condition of his poorly treated injuries. The injuries
included two broken arms, a broken leg, a broken shoulder, and the
consequences of stab wounds to the groin and ankle. Navy doctors
told him he would never again achieve "flight status." In a show of
exemplary fortitude, the young pilot undertook grueling physical
therapy. He not only flew again but he took command of his squadron
and rebuilt it. Then he became Navy liaison to the Senate, where,
by working with hawkish Republicans and Democrats, he helped
reverse the decline of the military and lay the foundation for the
Reagan military buildup that bankrupted the USSR.
In McCain's biography we see leadership, managerial skills, an
ability to work with senators on both sides of the aisle, and a
vigilance about national security that we do not see in his
opponent. McCain will not need the cheap tricks of a presidential
campaign to win on Election Day. His biography will be
sufficient.
topics:
John McCain, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, Military, NATO
