President Obama (may his tee shot never find the rough) delivered his first State of the Union speech last night. Among the proposals offered by the President was a re-commitment to abolish the absurd "don't ask, don't tell"rule from the military. It was later noted by whatever pundit occupied my TV at the time that this policy was opposed by John McCain. This begs the question: What are we to make of the conundrum that is John McCain? As a Catholic, I am naturally opposed to conundrums (rim shot!) but McCain is a special case. Just when you think you have him figured out, he says or does something to make you question your conclusion.
McCain is not a fence-straddler (except on the subject of Sweet Sarah Palin) or an equivocator (except on the subject of SSP). When you ask a question, you always get an answer...except (see above). It should be noted that the right-wing ideologue who ran for President with SSP in 2008 bore no resemblance to the current senior Senator from Arizona. Only the names are the same. You have to love a politician who takes a position on almost everything. For the most part his reasoning is logical, rational and well-reasoned. That sort of intelligence in a politician might get you knighted, canonized or at least earn you a wing at the Smithsonian with all of the other extinct creatures. In McCain's case it has earned him a primary challenge from a teabagger named J.D. Hayworth.
If you're running against fruit-loops like the Baggers, logic and intelligence will get you killed. McCain will have to explain why he forged an alliance with legislators of both parties in 2005 to break the logjam in Congress that was preventing the approval of federal appointees. He will have to justify his dalliance with Democrat Russ Feingold and Sometime Democrat Joe Lieberman to craft needed legislation on campaign finance reform (McCain-Feingold) and climate change (Climate Stewardship Act). McCain will be forced to defend his possible position as vice president on the 2004 Kerry ticket (never offered; never sought) and his preference for Joe Lieberman as a running mate in 2008.
Most recently, McCain committed the cardinal sin of meeting with Democrat Evan Bayh (in public, no less) to attempt improvements to President Obama's federal spending freeze. What kind of Conservative Republican seeks compromise over ideology; governance over rhetoric; reason over sound-bites? The kind that gets clobbered by talk show windbags.
For however sick to death we are of the term (thank you SSP), McCain is an actual maverick. He refuses to participate in the stupid, obnoxious pandering that has infected Republican politics since the election of Barack Obama. McCain believes that questioning Obama's citizenship is infantile. He forbade his presidential campaign committee from attacking Obama over the Jeremiah Wright issue. He was a frequent critic of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the conduct of the Iraq War. He opposes water-boarding and all other forms of "enhanced interrogation". McCain is certainly no Liberal. He is a small government warhawk who believes that earmarks are the root of all evil. Unfortunately, he is a true independent in an age of orthodoxy. Teabaggers don't want thinkers. They want screamers. They don't want legislators. They want true-believers. McCain's brand of Conservatism is as out-of-fashion as a mullet.
McCain could still win in Arizona. He still has a great personal story and the guy who is opposing him has more baggage (tea and otherwise) than Samsonite. Still it's a bit sad to watch a man who has given his life and his family to public service, reduced to explaining how give and take works in the legislative process. In Republican politics today that's like explaining sunrise to blind people.
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