Once upon a time, John McCain was a Maverick. At least as late as 2000, he still behaved like one. Unfortunately for him, that helped seal his doom in the contest for the Republican nomination for President. The sad truth he took from defeat is that in order to fulfill his Vietnam POW-era dream of the White House, he would have to play to the Republican base in order to get nominated the next time. So he swallowed whatever principles he had and supported Bush more than “90% of the time” in his own words. Now, in 2008, having won the Republican base, he wants to reclaim the maverick mantle. His frustration in America’s refusal to give it back became clear in the final debate with Obama as he grimaced, frowned, sighed and became increasingly petulant. Here he had to sit still for George W. Bush, of all people, to steal his shot at the White House in 2000. Now this damned upstart Obama is in his way. At age 72, he won’t have another chance at achieving his dream. But what he may not have realized, it is all of his own doing; ambition over principle.
It is true that no matter how wonderful an agenda one may have, one will never have an opportunity to advance it if one is not elected. So the temptation is to say what one believes needs to be said in order to get elected. Once elected, the genuine article can reemerge. But it is a fine line to walk, running for office and maintaining a sense of genuine identity and clear principles. While McCain trumpets his years of experience in contrast to Barack Obama’s relatively short record, he fails to note how this hurts rather than helps. Because he has had so many years in public office, he has had the opportunity to weave this way and that in opposing and supporting policies of one president or another. He asks “who is the real Barack Obama” while failing to recognize that he has made it much more difficult to tell who the real McCain is by his own vacillation. He might actually be a decent president, but who can say what he really stands for? Perhaps he never read Shakespeare’s admonition, “to thine own self be true.”
