CHARACTER MATTERS -- A JOHN McCAIN PERSECTIVE IN THIS QUADRENNIAL MADNESS!

CHARACTER MATTERS – A JOHN McCAIN PERSPECTIVE IN THE QUADRENNIAL MADNESS

James R. Fisher, Jr.

“It is impossible that an ill-natured man can have a public spirit; for how should he love ten thousand men, who never loved one?”

Francis de S. Fenelon (1651 – 1715), French archbishop

We are about to enter the quadrennial madness of presidential politics with people entering and bowing out of the race over the next two years. It is part of the American ritual of our best and worst moments, revisiting our national apathy and natural inclination to support a “winner.” That is why we have polls and are addicted to them.

Lost in the melee is the central issue that has kept our head above water in our worst moments. If you are not a reader of books, I hope that you are a watcher of the “American Experience” series on PBS television.

One of the surprising features of this series is that it puts flesh and blood on the skeletal remains of Our Founding Fathers and leaders throughout time, especially at our most critical moments.

For example when Benjamin Franklin was visiting France during the American Revolution to gain financial and military support, John Adams, who was to be our second president, was on a similar mission as well. Instead of combining their efforts, putting our fledgling nation’s best interests above their personal pride and ambition, both men were consumed with enmity and bitterness towards each other, nearly changing the course of American history.

You would see in this television series that George Washington had a Dwight Eisenhower kind of intellect, as did Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but all three men rose above their limitations because of their character.

They knew who they were and what they were about.

On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson, like John Adams, was the intellectual superior of his contemporaries, but of a flawed character that had a penchant for fortuity, which was not the case for Adams. The latter had a penchant for rubbing nearly everyone up the wrong side.

Likewise, his son, John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, was of superior intellect and character but not of a matching finesse. John Quincy’s greatest moments came when he was an ex-president and a member of the House of Representatives. There he displayed a powerful commitment to anti-slavery.

Neither Adams ever own slaves, but presidents before and after them did.

Currently, Time magazine features John Fitzgerald Kennedy (July 2, 2007) with the cover caption “What We Can Learn From JFK.”

The article is remarkable in its emphasis and omissions, making much of the man and little of his faux pas: e.g., little is made of his initiating the Vietnam War, the fiasco of the Cuban Invasion, where he lacked the will to give air support, his philandering, his precarious connection with mafia types and his hesitation to truly launch the Civil Rights Movement, while much is made of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which was mainly self-generated.

It is understandable. JFK is the image Americans like to think of themselves: dashing, good looking, white, and above average. Profligacy has no place in this character image. It is as if JFK stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and (Theodore) Roosevelt on Mount Rushmore. It is Camelot of the Mind with a giant “what if” he had lived speculation.

Unfortunately, character is not something you wish for but something you are and demonstrate in what you do. The irony is that Time magazine doesn’t seem to realize it is illustrating our stuckness*** by exaggerating our sense of who and what we would like to think we are.

Some have wondered about my politics. Well, like my religion, they are not of a party or platform but of character and will that might lead us through our sick times and sick society. Who is that to be?

JOHN McCAIN, THE QUENTESSENTIAL AMERICAN

There is someone I find interesting. His name is John McCain.

John McCain may not get elected president, indeed; he may drop out of the race for lack of money, organization and support. But for me, he is the single character in the present firmament that seems real, flawed as this reality may appear.

McCain is not a good campaigner, not a good speaker, not robust or handsome, and certainly not dashing or debonair. Yet, I sense he has the will and the moral conviction to put American society back on its rightful axis.

In a strange way, John McCain, small, crumpled, white-haired, aging, disarmingly genuine and sincere in a humble way reminds me of John XXIII, the saintly pope that attempted to put a little reality and tolerance into his ancient Roman Catholic Church with the Ecumenical Council. McCain understands the United States, if it is to survive in tact, will have a more modest leadership role in the world. The Catholic church has not learned apparently from John XXIII's leadership, and so it continues to stumble forward. My hope is that America will be more fortunate.

John McCain credentials match his temperament. He has been a combat veteran in Vietnam, and a tortured prisoner-of-war, and yet he doesn’t believe in draconian measures against incarcerated “terrorists.” He has been a dedicated senator pleasing neither party in his stand on controversial issues such as immigration, where he is empathetic to the demands of ethnic minorities, and the war in Iraq, where he advocates more troops against criticism from all sides.

In a word, he is Jacksonian (re: president Andrew Jackson) in that he represents blunt reality as did Jackson, more than a century and a half ago. Like Jackson, he is his own man with the pain and struggle of his life as testimony to his philosophy and politics.

As this is written, he is low in the polls and declining while a television dandy and personality, Fred Thompson, threatens to enter the quadrennial madness. Thompson looks presidential; McCain is presidential.

Americans have not always chosen wisely, even in times of crisis, aggravating the madness of their dilemma. Is this to be any different? Time will tell.

__________
***Stuckness is the central issue discussed in my new book A LOOK BACK TO SEE AHEAD (AuthorHouse 2007). For more information: http://www.authorhouse.com/