Fighting Words

With John McCain it's always fighting words.  The words that come out of his mouth and the words used to describe him. Aggressive.  Scrappy.  A combatant.  Prepared to take out his opponent.  Instincts of a fighter.  It's his debate style, his persona, his character.  He used the word "fight" more than 40 times in his acceptance speech--and got the loudest cheers.  Even his vice-presidential pick comes from a fighter pilot strategy: "operate at a faster tempo than the enemy...get inside the mind and decision cycle of the adversary."

When you are 72 years old with a history of cancer, picking the person a heartbeat away from the presidency calls for statesmanship, not military strategy.  But that's the fighter mentality.  And his VP choice (I refuse to name her again) has the same warrior mentality, and has proven herself to be the kind of fighter who fights dirty--who looks in your eyes and tells lies with a smug smile.  Just like our current president, who has looked the American people in the eye and lied to us--over and over and over again.

The McCain campaign feels familiar because Bush, the armchair warrior, also loves those fighting words.  We've been hearing them for years.  "Bring it on."  "Mission accomplished."  We know where that got us. 

Having a tough-talking, swaggering, trigger-happy president--again---is a scary concept.  Because having a president who sees the world that way, and uses those fighting words--is why we're in this mess right now:

We have more enemies  and less friends.  Our economy is bruised and broken.  Our health care system is bruised and broken.  Our army is bruised and broken.  Even our planet is bruised and broken.

We've heard more than enough fighting words.  We need a president who can handle himself in a fight but doesn't start them.  We need a president with vision, not battle scars.  We need a president who thinks first, not one who shoots from the hip.  We need a president who can help us heal the deep divisions in our own country.  Who can help us "bind the nation's wounds."  We need a president like Abraham Lincoln.

For those who think McCain's warrior experience is so valuable, I thought maybe I should see how Lincoln managed without any warrior experience--during the worst war in our history.  Earlier I had googled "McCain" and "fight"--and you can imagine the list I got back.  So I googled "Abraham Lincoln" and "fight."  There isn't much.  Even though Lincoln presided over the country during a war, he wasn't known as a fighter.  Nor did he use fighting words.  Come to think of it, he used mostly healing words.

But my little experiment on Google did turn up something surprising.  I learned that as a young man, Abraham Lincoln actually was involved in a duel.

He didn't pick the fight, of course; he was challenged---by a type of guy who sounded more like McCain.  Lincoln felt bound to accept the challenge--but ultimately he used his other skills--wits and brains--to finesse the duel--with honor.  So Lincoln, who could spar with words when necessary, avoided swordplay--and death--and lived to lead a country in desperate need of healing.  As we are right now.

Some think Obama doesn't have the toughness to be President. Ironic considering he was a mixed race kid from an impoverished background who was tough enough to make it to Harvard Law and the United States Senate.  Not to mention emerging victorious from bitter primary battles with the former world heavyweight champs--the Clintons.  Obama has plenty of fight--he just doesn't wear it on his sleeve.  Or throw it in your face.

I do salute McCain for his fighting spirit.  I am sure it helped him fight his multiple serious battles against cancer--and I think battling for his life is where his fighting spirit would be most useful, in case he needs to call upon it again.  Although I admire fighter pilots like John McCain for their cockiness and bravery, I want to keep them in the skies, in their fighter jets, keeping us safe.

We don't need Top Gun in the White House.  We need someone whose quickness is in his mind, not his trigger finger.  We need someone who thinks before he throws a punch.  Someone who won't always use his fists, but will use his wits and wisdom. 

If we are lucky, as we were during our nation's darkest hour, we have found the right man at the right time--who also comes to Washington from Illinois--another president with the capacity to be not a fighter, but a healer.

Comments

[Ron]

Another brilliant piece Darryle. I just wish I knew how to reach more Bush/McCain/Palin "cultists" with your clear-headed, right-on-the money assessment of our presidential/vice-presidential choices. It is so frightening to hear so many people who seem to be blindly voting Republican out of "habit" and a self-centered concern for their own financial well-being (Republicans' tendency to be more tax averse). What too many of those people seemingly have not realized yet is that the new Trillion$+ proposal (it even hurts to type that amount) has been necessitated by the egregious missteps of the current administration (including Alan Greenspan) in allowing, almost sanctioning, the irresponsible lending practices of the very institutions that are requiring the taxpayers' to rescue them. By allowing them to offload those flawed assets without some form of "payback" in the form of equity participation once those assets appreciate, will undoubtedly foster the same greedy missteps under a new Republican regime.

As someone who has worked on Wall Street for the last 30 years and, more precisely, has been actively involved in the mortgage business for all those years, I have seen first-hand how Wall Street and the banking community has taken advantage of, and even abused, the American homeowner in a greedy march toward larger and larger profits.

We, as Americans, cannot allow our leaders to provide this unprecedented rescue plan without securing equity participation in return for every American whose hard-earned tax dollars are going to fund that plan.

[Ron]

I just found out that McCain has asked to cancel Friday's debate in order to return to Congress to work on the the Federal bailout plan. I cannot help but feel that he is proposing this as a way to avoid direct contact with Obama in an area that he is clearly going to be outshined and is totally out of his league. In all his years in the Senate, he has not seemed to be in touch with the economy nor too concerned about its current dire straits. He very obviously does not fully comprehend its dynamics or its current state of utter disrepair. This was evidenced by his statement recently that the our economy is "sound". Wow, talk about someone in "la la land" and totally out of touch with Main Street America. Combined with Sarah Palin's apparent order from the top not to conduct any news conferences, the Republicans are very obviously trying to avoid rather than confront what I feel is the most critical issue, the state of the American economy. They seem to be feverishly trying to maintain the momentum that they developed with Sarah's sudden elevation to the national consciousness without doing anything to stunt that momentum. Very scary indeed in a time that we can ill afford such "ostrich-like" behavior.

[Darryle]

Ron, your pointed and passionate comments are much appreciated--especially considering your personal expertise regarding the economy. Also because you are using your experience and passion to help influence others. I think as a newly registered voter you make a powerful spokesman for how each of us can make a difference in such an important election. I just hope the public can see McCain's ridiculous attempt to avoid the debate as the transparent gesture and PR stunt that it is.