UNLIKE most partisan hacks, I don’t go into cardiac arrest when John McCain quizzically wonders who the real Barack Obama is. But while we’re on the subject of character, I do think McCain should look in the mirror to face what people across the political spectrum are whispering: who is the real John McCain? Given that 51 percent of voters in the latest ABC/Washington Post poll said the “maverick” will continue Bush’s policies, I suspect even the well-seasoned Arizona senator may need to use a lifeline.
Senator John McCain is suffering from schizophrenia. The campaign has muddied the man’s ideology and personality. This is not a partisan statement. Even conservatives ponder: how does he straddle between courageous patriot and erratic politician? Bipartisan pragmatist and right-wing ideologue? Bitter old man and straight-talking veteran? That’s too much straddling, even for a maverick.
As a foreign policy junkie, I love John McCain. He’s done it all. He bled for his country. He battled his own party on the surge and Guantanamo Bay. He reached across the aisle on immigration reform and campaign finance. And he did all this with a cheery smile and straight talk. His story is unconventional and almost unreal. His character is biographical and authentic.
So it is was with great sadness that I watched McCain’s authentic personality shift during the election. The unnerving, unscripted McCain of the Straight Talk Express gave way to a prickly, robotic sourpuss. In an August TIME interview, a stiff McCain choked out scripted talking points and abrasive one liners like “read it in my books.” By September, his Senate colleague Tom Daschle spoke of “two kinds of John McCain”, one irate and irritable, the other human and humorous.
So, like a tragic episode of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I watched these two John McCains unravel over the months that followed — delivering touching speeches about service on one hand while railing acerbically against Obama’s character on the other. I wondered — who is the real John McCain?
McCain’s foreign policy speeches alternate between the irreconcilable extremes of stone-cold realism and the irascible neoconservatism. The surge was the epitome of rational self interest — more troops would lead to better security for reconstruction or withdrawal. But McCain’s proposal to kick Russia out of the G-8 and set up a “League of Democracies” sacrifices a clear-eyed view of interests for a senseless ideology. We need Russia on issues like non-proliferation, and we need China on any meaningful economic or environmental effort. So which is the real John McCain?
Even McCain’s campaign frustratingly mirrors the candidate’s erratic divergence. Neocon icon Bill Kristol told McCain to fire his campaign. And Republican strategist Ed Rollins says it is “in chaos.” There have been three managerial changes in 18 months, from McCain’s clean 2000 campaign staff to Karl Rove’s filthy cronies. As a result, campaign speeches and advertisements are incoherent on issues like Obama’s character. “The end result,” Rollin concludes, “is a campaign suffering from schizophrenia.” When a campaign is rife with internal divisions, it does not communicate who the real John McCain is.
Most disastrously, schizophrenia has struck at the very fabric of McCain’s character. Remember the 2000 South Carolina presidential primaries? Karl Rove and friends ran a smear campaign that accused McCain of being a homosexual who wedded a drug addict and fathered an illegitimate black child. The senator then courageously quipped, “if all you run is negative attack ads, you don’t have much of a vision for the future.”
Fast forward to 2008, and McCain has less trouble putting politics above character and country. Negative ads on Obama’s character, though not nearly as dishonest, are commonplace. During a recession, McCain prefers political stunts like suspending his campaign instead of meaningful policies. He says he puts his country first, then selects a grotesquely inexperienced vice president for political reasons. So, who is the real John McCain?
American political satirist Christopher Buckley recalls that McCain once said: “we came to Washington to change it, and Washington changed us”. This campaign has changed John McCain beyond recognition. No one can tell if he is a warm, realistic and straight-talking maverick, or a bitter, divisive ideologue. Voters aren’t looking for uncertainty in uncertain times, while analysts know McCain will face the same problem balancing his base and the center even after he is elected.
So, Senator McCain, if you want to win this, you need to sway voters with a clear image and message. Forget the economy and the deck of Obama “cards.” Just show them who you are. Weave a narrative of you as a “fighter” and the speech will write itself. Fighting in Vietnam, fighting against your own party, fighting to reach across the aisle, and fighting for the American people amidst a financial crisis and two wars. The John McCain I used to admire would not give up without a fight. Show us how it’s done. Give us a fight to remember.
Prashanth Parameswaran’s column appears Thursday in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at p.parameswaran@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
PARTING SHOT: No man is an island
By Ava MacBlane | 9 hours agoRetirement, as you can tell, has been treating me well. When people ask me now if I miss it, I laugh and tell them some things I definitely don't miss. But I don't always get to tell them about the things I really do miss.
PARTING SHOT: You never know unless you try
By Lexi Baker | YesterdayMy time at the University was shaped by the people who showed me grace and kindness and by those who had confidence in me, even when I struggled to have it in myself.
PARTING SHOT: A love letter to Cav Daily and Connection
By Ava Proehl | YesterdayMy time here taught me to look for the genuine, human connection in every moment.
