September 12, 2008
I’m watching The View this morning and the guests are John and Cindy McCain. I like the McCains, even though I’m not of their political persuasion, which is why I’m not voting for John. But if he ever moves into the neighborhood, I’d like to meet him. He and I have a couple three things in common, including Vietnam service and a passionate love of this country. Even when we disagree, I know he has the best interests of the nation at heart. He’s also not afraid to compromise for the popular good. These are traits I value in a person and I think they’re necessary to be a good national executive.
But it’s Friday, and I don’t do politics on Friday. I’m just enjoying a man whose war record I certainly admire. To me, he’s a model of courage and character. He also recalls a quality not often mentioned in a political context anymore. John’s got integrity. If I needed help patching my roof before the next day’s rain, John wouldn’t wait to be asked. He’d be there with a pickup truck full of roofing material and friends. And towing the hot tar for the shingles. It would be a natural reaction for him. And when we invited him to have supper with us, we’d let him say the grace, even though we’re Catholics. He believes in the same god as anyone else and he’s said that a lot. I wonder if we were the only ones listening.
But, as I said, I’m committed to a more liberal agenda. However, I feel pretty much the same about Barack Obama as I do John McCain. They both have the qualities and character traits I value in a leader. They also have intelligent, dramatic, independently-thinking significant others who are not afraid to disagree with their husbands publicly. To me, that’s a kind of domestic checks and balances which translates into a fairer hearing for the opposing view. I like it that John and Barack came together yesterday. They lent the occasion the dignity, the austerity and the respect it deserved.
It rankles me that "my party" (whose symbol is a jackass, by the way) makes an issue of McCain’s age and appearance. It reminds me of the comments I heard about Mick Jagger in my native country of Canada after one of their concerts there. It was as though the audience expected them to stay young forever and resented them when they did not. Hey, I can handle someone feeling afraid of growing older, even though I cannot personally relate to it. What I CANNOT handle isafflicting the rest of us with an attitude we don’t own. Translated:
Some of us grow older.
Some of us grow better.
Some of us just grow.
Get over it, folks. Nobody except Peter Pan and the folks in Camelot live forever. The Stones still put on one heckuva concert and John McCain has the inner strength and dedication which is to his generation what imagination and daring are to the young. Like Barack Obama, he’s also got a loving family so for him, it’s never going to be THAT lonely at the top. And as John said on The View, with regards to Hillary Clinton, with whom he is friends and has a good professional relationship, "We’ve worked together before and we certainly will again." I’m absolutely certain he feels that way about the other senator who is also a colleague.
I also like it that both of them occasionally put their feet in their mouths. And that the people around them do too. I get nervous around superior people or those who promote themselves as more saintly than thou. Me. WhomEVER. I’ve seen perfectionists polish the joy right out of life. Those for and with whom I’ve worked tend to be so anally retentive you’d swear they were housebroken at the point of a 12 gauge over and under.
Noooooooope. Give me someone who occasionally trips on his lip. I could use a lighter moment or two and Lord knows how much the lesser gods enjoy mortal slapstick. I think that’s why I loved Dan Quayle so much. He was the best act on the Potomac for awhile.
Neither one of these men is going to achieve all he wants in office and that’s due in a large part to something else both seem to remember. They are there to serve the national constituency. They work for us, not the other way around. And I think we, the voters, have learned what fatal folly it is to surrender so much control. We’re going to be paying a lot more attention from here on out and we are going to be a lot quicker to demand a public accounting.
Under two generations of Bushes and under Dick Cheney, we came very close to establishing a dubiously benevolent monarchy in Washington, DC. While I can appreciate the nobility in both Barack Obama and John McCain, I am also an American and I will bow to no one except the gods of my choosing.
I’ve yet to kneel before another human being. I expect I’m not alone in those regards.
1 comment:
While I have always held Sen. McCain in great respect for his service, and still do, I have to say that I'm disappointed in him as of late. His campaign has become increasingly negative, including running ads that are usually misleading, and often outright lies. For a man who has always held "honor" in the highest regard, I find his actions lately quite dishonorable. I think it's a real shame.
Beth
Post a Comment