McCain Is the Right Man, and the Right Choice

Barack Obama is no leader. When he first announced his candidacy for President, I admit that I was hopeful that he meant what he said, that his would be a candidacy which judged issues by the merits of their arguments, not the political posture behind them. But as I learned more about Barack Obama, I came to understand that he was just one more liar, another in a long line of con men who thought that integrity was not a virtue, but merely a shade of rhetorical inflection, that to him a ‘courageous’ man was not one who stood by his principles no matter the cost, but merely a man who timed his statements to gain political capital through ingenuous pretense. I became so disillusioned, that I stopped and wondered if I was being too harsh on the man, and missing his moral core. But for all the glamour to the man, I cannot find a single instance where Barack Obama accepted a difficult course and persevered against the weight of wrong-headed public opinion, where he ever bore injustice with dignity, or where he took on a difficult and thankless task because it needed to be done, with no personal reward or advantage made apparent. Barack Obama speaks with grace and eloquence, but only of himself.

The alternative, then, is John McCain. Ironically, at the same time that I was seriously considering the potential merit in the arguments of Senator Obama, I held those of Senator McCain in no small measure of contempt. I found McCain-Feingold an abominable law, his stance on Immigration wholly unsatisfactory, and even the man’s temperament got on my nerves. I found myself hoping for a new Reagan, but failing that, sure we could avoid handing the party nomination over to a man who was far to pally with the Democrats. As time passed, I gradually began to come around, however. It began, as it did for many Americans, with the indisputable heroism of McCain during Vietnam. Those on the Left mock the man for his rank at Annapolis, but they fail to understand that that place is where the man began, that his story grows a great deal from that place. John McCain endured five years of torment from truly evil people, his leadership in that place and time is proven by the accounts from his fellow prisoners, and his valor in refusing to leave ahead of fellow prisoners is undeniable. But that is not all there is to John McCain. As a Senator, McCain is the man most known in the Senate for working with anyone who would help to get the job done, where Obama pretends that he would consider crossing the aisle in partnership and goodwill, John McCain can point to more than many significant occasions where he has already done that. John McCain, in fact, has lived and worked by the very principles that his opponent says are most needed in the White House.

The evidence can be found in the campaign this year, as well. While the media pretends that McCain is running a negative campaign, it was McCain who ran an ad congratulating Obama’s historic nomination. When Palin’s nomination was announced, Obama at first could not rise to such a level of grace and dignity. And the events of recent days have shown that McCain anticipated the present financial crisis, even though he humbly says that he did not see it coming quite as it happened. Yet Obama not only cannot credit McCain for his attention to the problem ahead of anyone else, he lies about that and his own position on the issue in hopes of hiding his own inadequate preparation.

Americans are not often fooled, and never permanently. Between the two major candidates, one loves himself and thinks the office would serve his purposes well, but he has never sacrificed for his country, while the other clearly loves America and serves her interests ahead of many personal ambitions. One man desperately evades examination of his own opinion, while the other understands the need for a core integrity. The man who would be President thinks he can figure out the job once he gets into the office, while the man who will be President has the experience, judgment, and resolve to protect the country’s security, commonwealth, and future. John McCain is simply the right man to be President, because no one else at the top of the ticket available to voters in November is qualified or ready.