August 27th, 2018

John McCain’s Parting Shot: “We owe each other our respect, as long as our character merits respect”

The question being posed this week is whether we are over-stating John McCain’s heroism and statesmanship only because he presents such as stark contrast to the incumbent President of the United States. And I suppose that’s a possibility. But consider these quotations: “We were born to love and we were born to have the courage for it” Does that sound like the current president?
 
How about “I don’t know how you could impeach somebody who’s done a great job.” Does that sound like the current president?
 
It’s more likely and accurate to say it is the president, despite his worst efforts, who amplifies what is honourable about the late senator. It’s hard to believe, but the president looks worse than you would otherwise expect when he’s seen in the light of John McCain’s political career and personal sacrifice.
 
Throughout his life, McCain learned from experience, allowed his thinking to evolve, to publicly admit mistakes and even reverse his political positions on some key issues. And no one ever accused him of flip-flopping primarily because it was widely understood that Senator McCain was driven personally and politically to put his country first.
 
Does that sound like the current president?
 
During the 2008  U.S. Presidential campaign, McCain bucked the advice of his handlers and publicly supported George W. Bush’s commitment to ‘the surge’ in Iraq. The former Air Force pilot insisting he’d rather lose an election than lose a war. You may not agree with his position but you can’t argue that he was prepared to put the good of his country (as he saw it) ahead of his personal and political gain.
 
Does that sound like the current president?
 
That campaign lasted 18 months and, by some estimations, John McCain led the polls for no more than 10 days. But he refused to take the low road.
 
Does that sound like the current president?
 
McCain had the opportunity to play to the lowest common denominator among voters but refused to do so. The best example is when he was confronted by a ‘supporter’ at one of his town hall meetings who said she didn’t trust Barack Obama because “he’s an Arab.”
 
McCain shut her down, deftly and respectfully correcting her misunderstanding. He told her Barack Obama is a “decent family-man, (a) citizen who I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about.”
 
Does that sound like the current president?
 
It’s worth remembering the comment McCain made in his concession speech to Obama. He took personal responsibility for the defeat. He accepted it with grace and composure.
 
Does that sound like the current president?
 
This week McCain will be officially honoured in 3 cities over 5 days. He will lie in state at the Arizona State Capitol, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and at the U.S Capitol.
 
Yet, on this day, the U.S. flag flies at full staff over the White House in Washington. According to reporting in the Washington Post, the president pulled the plug on an official White House statement that cited McCain’s heroism and acknowledged his extraordinary service to his country.
 
That has been the cause of hyper and breathless reporting on the cable news networks; it’s been footnoted by the McCain family’s demand that the incumbent president not attend his funeral; and it’s prompted earnest commentators to authoritatively declare that McCain and the president had a rocky relationship.
 
But it’s more accurate to say there was no relationship between the two men. So it certainly shouldn’t be surprising that the president isn’t welcome to attend McCain’s funeral. And it’s not about being a friend or foe – remember, McCain ran against Barack Obama and George W. Bush, and both former presidents have been invited to deliver eulogies.
 
Who among us could imagine the current president being half as gracious and self aware in the face of defeat or death? His behaviour is, and has been, typically un-presidential, so his petty, immature, disgraceful snub of John McCain is not at all surprising.
 
I made the point on my Weekend Morning Show on NEWSTALK 1010 in Toronto (you can stream it thru the iHeartRadio app:) that our American friends should mourn the passing of respectful debate and honourable politics when they note the passing of John McCain.
 
But the Senator said it best in his final memoir, “The Restless Wave”, written with Mark Salter.
 
“I’d like to see our politics begin to return to the purposes and practices that distinguish our history from the history of other nations. I would like to see us recover our sense that we are more alike than different. We are citizens of a republic made of shared ideals forged in a new world to replace the tribal enmities that tormented the old one. Even in times of political turmoil such as these, we share that awesome heritage and the responsibility to embrace it. Whether we think each other right or wrong in our views on the issues of the day, we owe each other our respect, as long as our character merits respect, and as long as we share, for all our differences, for all the rancorous debates that enliven and sometimes demean our politics, a mutual devotion to the ideals our nation was conceived to uphold, that all are created equal, and liberty and equal justice are the natural rights of all. Those rights inhabit the human heart, and from there, though they may be assailed, they can never be wrenched. I want to urge Americans, for as long as I can, to remember that this shared devotion to human rights is our truest heritage and our most important loyalty.”
 
McCain’s final thought reflects some fairly recent history – a time when disrespect wasn’t the only way to disagree, when political foes could be personal friends.
 
But it’s hard to imagine this current era of “Ya-but-debate”, driven by ad hominem insults and digital media bullying, led by the current House of Cowards in the West Wing and Congress will soon reflect ‘the better angels of our nature.”

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