Part 1...


A long convention week reached its crescendo Thursday night as John McCain, eight years after finishing as runner up for the GOP nomination for President of the United States, finally took the podium to accept his party’s nomination. The convention hall was filled with electricity, quite possibly a spill over from Governor Sarah Palin’s speech the previous night that raised the optimism of the party faithful.

This past week, in between speeches, the faithful mingled and danced to music blasting from the loudspeakers. As had been the case on previous nights, the usually country music fare was interrupted often by the 1980’s Kenny Loggins hit “Highway to the Danger Zone”, the theme song to the Tom Cruise classic “Top Gun.” As fans of that movie know Cruise’s character, nicknamed Maverick, was a hot shot fighter pilot who had spent most of his life fighting personal demons while striving to live up to the lofty career of his own father who had been a decorated pilot in Vietnam.

McCain’s nickname undoubtedly is a double entendre in that first, he, too, was a short tempered fighter pilot forced to live up to the standards set by his father and grandfather, both Navy Admirals.

Second, he has long been considered a maverick for breaking with Republican Orthodoxy by charting a limited course of bipartisanship. Earlier this decade, McCain was one of the most vocal critics of political evangelicals who were hijacking the Republican Party. McCain has previously stated that he would “discuss” an abortion during hypothetical questions about his own child becoming pregnant.

McCain has advocated campaign finance reform while criticizing Bush’s tax cuts. These acts and many others caused a level of enmity between him and conservative ideologues, so much so that he has often been viewed as a heretic.

Further complicating matters is that McCain has previously supported amnesty for illegal aliens while reaching out to constituencies that are part of the Democratic base. This past summer McCain was very well received at the NAACP convention despite Barrack Obama’s presence in the presidential race.

Yet, because of the rampant criticism during the primary season, McCain has taken a hard turn to the right—at least publicly. Over the past few months the Obama campaign has criticized McCain often for being a clone of Bush.

On Thursday McCain argued that he is the best qualified to change Washington. McCain’s speech was panned by most commentators for being poorly written, woefully delivered and lacking substance. The critics asked how McCain, who has been a part of the Washington establishment for 30 years, could effect change.

My theory is that McCain considers himself an outsider because while he has voted along party lines 90% of the time according to recent ads by Democrats, he still believes that Washington is grid-locked and unable to do any heavy lifting because of bitter partisanship.

To that end, McCain’s speech, like the convention itself, was a repudiation of George W. Bush’s presidency. While the typical conservative talking points of lower taxes and less government were adhered to, the trained eye and ear can recognize that McCain is no great fan of the president. And though he would dare not say it now because it is irrelevant, McCain’s closest friends have gone on record to say that the current nominee still believes that he was better qualified than Bush back in 2000.

Indeed one must question how different things would have been had McCain been president following 9/11.

A former military officer, McCain understands what has often been referred to as the “Powell Doctrine”, named for General Colin Powell, in which war should be waged upon clear cut objectives and use of overwhelming force. Despite Powell’s presence as Secretary of State at the beginning of the war, his doctrine was never adhered to by Bush and his neo-conservative underlings who thought that the war could be won with a minimal number of troops on the ground.

Years later, with guerilla warfare quickly eroding public sentiment, McCain correctly bet that a troop surge would reestablish our dominance in Iraq. The problem for McCain is that at this juncture, the success of the surge has further eroded public resolve for any longstanding engagement. While McCain said that he would “work for” the people, he must demonstrate that he is willing to listen to the people since his executive powers to wage war would not make him a dictator.

While Republicans, like Democrats the week before, are absolutely right in stating that real threats remain across the globe, the problem is that McCain, like Obama, failed to outline exactly how he would deal with these problems in the wake of budgetary shortfalls.

Because Obama failed to provide specifics on this topic other than to suggest that he would withdraw troops from Iraq, McCain missed an awesome opportunity to discuss military spending as well as procurement of funds to increase military benefits for those waging war.

McCain also missed a chance to outline how he would end the abysmal funding for veterans returning from war. With their promises of tax cuts and freezes, how would a supposedly budget conscious McCain-Palin administration pay for these veterans benefits?

How would McCain-Palin address troop shortages? One of the more clever comments that McCain made during his speech was mentioning that he rarely saw his father for four years during World War II. This comment was designed to answer Democratic charges that the current troops are fatigued from three and four tours of duty.

The difference is that back then there was a draft that helped replenish service personnel. Both Republicans and Democrats have vowed not to reinstitute the draft, but with the prospects of war continuing to linger, it is difficult to imagine plausible ways to replenish the armed forces without one.

Other than his promise to drill for oil, McCain also failed to specifically address economic issues such as food shortages and foreclosures. For many Independent voters, the question remains what would the GOP do to alleviate the suffering of the average worker.

Which brings me to one of the key problems of this week’s convention which is, while it is awesome and appropriate to pay homage to the troops, would it not be better to ensure that the same are able to return to jobs and a stable economy? It is one thing to talk about providing the latest technology for troops to wage war, but it is equally important to ensure that those returning from war will not have to deal with the bureaucratic nightmare that often marks trips to Veterans Administration hospitals?

It is great to discuss the benefits of small town life as Governor Palin did on Wednesday night. But those words will ring hollow if she and her potential boss refuse to acknowledge that the economy is weak due to eight years of Bush, 6 of which included a GOP dominated Congress.

Unlike Obama’s famous comment from his acceptance speech, I actually think that McCain does “get it”; I just think that he has had to play like a dummy to appease the GOP base.

In a different vein, late Wednesday night CNN’s Roland Martin commented that he was offended by Governor Palin’s attempt to besmirch Obama’s previous work as a community organizer. While her comments were obviously crafted to take a shot at a political rival, the truth is that there are many poor and working class Republicans who, while laughing at Palin’s line that night arose to fret over their paycheck to paycheck existences---a reality that could prove devastating if interrupted by a lost job or a health crisis. Is it wise to support a ticket that has an almost Marie Antoinette-like “If they do not have bread---let them eat cake” approach to those crying out about economic hardship?

Some pundits were equally put off by the incessant talk of McCain’s POW status. On this point I certainly honor and respect McCain. Unlike many of my friends, I actually thought that one of the sincerest lines from his speech was when he stated that he hates war---a rebuttal to comments that his “Bomb Iran” tirades portend a possible warrior king.

Yet, I still agree with General Wesley Clark’s earlier sentiments that being a POW is not a guarantor of presidential success. To be honest, I am surprised that McCain has allowed his POW status to be discussed so much. I’ve had the privilege of knowing many of my late father’s college friends from Florida A&M University who, like him, served as young Army officers in Vietnam during the late ‘60’s. Almost to a man, these now graying former warriors refuse to allow their sacrifices to be trivialized as media sound-bytes.

Yesterday, while awaiting my return flight home and discussing that very point with my mother, she reminded me of one of the last stern lectures that I received as a young adult. During my sophomore year of college I was a budding College Republican at Morehouse College in Atlanta working, albeit in vain, to generate excitement for George H.W. Bush’s re-election campaign. While home on spring break one evening, with the typical arrogance of youth, I opined that Clinton was a “draft dodger” that ran from the war while other men, like Dad, went to fight. I asked how on Earth voters could support such a man knowing that a “coward” could be a heartbeat from the presidency.

Cutting me off, Dad went on to tell me that Clinton was no different than many young men of that era who sought college deferments, ran to Canada or mutilated themselves to avoid going to war. He went on to add, more importantly, that the difference is that for him the military was his profession and that he did not need to receive credit or accolades for something that “he had chosen to do.”

This point reminds me of McCain because he, too, chose to be an officer and his actions, while certainly worthy of respect, were simply part and parcel of the “hazardous duty” job description.

In short, McCain may have made a compelling case that he is qualified to be Secretary of Defense but he has yet to articulate why he is best suited to be president. Again, like the Democrats, the next 60 days will be filled with catch phrases and slogans, but the victor will likely be the ticket that can best articulate why they should be selected. As to McCain, he must also be prepared to answer in upcoming debates what makes him suited to inspire change in Washington when he has been unable to inspire change within his own party.

Join BBN for free to post a comment on this page.
If you already have an account, please login here to post a comment on this page.