Why John McCain’s Story Matters
September 12th, 2008 at 08:47am KMorrison
As new video surfaces of Senator McCain’s release from a Vietnam prison of war it gives another opportunity to look at why this experience is relevant to his presidential bid. Aside from the military understanding and perspective that McCain’s 22 years in the Navy provides, the compelling reason his P.O.W. experience matters, is that it shows his strength, resiliency, and triumphant spirit. What is riveting about Senator McCain’s story is not how perfect he is, it is about how human he is. He doesn’t tell a story of a hero, he tells a story of flawed human being who survived due to faith, friends, and country. What is compelling is not just that Senator McCain survived, or that he turned down preferential treatment, it’s that he lived through an event that shattered him, recovered, then thrived after his release.
The theme of the Republican convention revolved around service and putting country before party. His biography seen though the prism of a campaign is sometimes thought to be self-aggrandizement. However, if one pays attention to the story he tells himself, it is actually about learning about humility, love, compassion, and forgiveness under the harshest of circumstances. His speech at the convention reflected not on his heroics, but on how others brought him back after he had been broken.
“Then I found myself falling toward the middle of a small lake in the city of Hanoi, with two broken arms, a broken leg, and an angry crowd waiting to greet me. I was dumped in a dark cell, and left to die. I didn’t feel so tough anymore. When they discovered my father was an admiral, they took me to a hospital. They couldn’t set my bones properly, so they just slapped a cast on me. When I didn’t get better, and was down to about a hundred pounds, they put me in a cell with two other Americans. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t even feed myself. They did it for me. I was beginning to learn the limits of my selfish independence. Those men saved my life.
I was in solitary confinement when my captors offered to release me. I knew why. If I went home, they would use it as propaganda to demoralize my fellow prisoners. Our Code said we could only go home in the order of our capture, and there were men who had been shot down before me. I thought about it, though. I wasn’t in great shape, and I missed everything about America. But I turned it down.
A lot of prisoners had it worse than I did. I’d been mistreated before, but not as badly as others. I always liked to strut a little after I’d been roughed up to show the other guys I was tough enough to take it. But after I turned down their offer, they worked me over harder than they ever had before. For a long time. And they broke me.
When they brought me back to my cell, I was hurt and ashamed, and I didn’t know how I could face my fellow prisoners. The good man in the cell next door, my friend, Bob Craner, saved me. Through taps on a wall he told me I had fought as hard as I could. No man can always stand alone. And then he told me to get back up and fight again for our country and for the men I had the honor to serve with. Because every day they fought for me.
I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else’s. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn’t my own man anymore. I was my country’s.”
Entry Filed under: John McCain, Military, RNC08
8 Comments Add your own
1. Joe | September 12th, 2008 at 11:35 am
KM,
I don’t want to sound like I am just taking an opposite stand on everything.
I completely agree that McCain’s years in the POW are incredibly moving. It shows his love for the country. It shows how strong he was in the face of danger. It shows what a hero he was. That is undeniable.
Nobody questions his love for the country and nobody questions his honor of service.
Where we diverge in opinion is that McCain’s service and the fact that he was a POW does not mean his ideas and policies are what is best for the country. That is a matter of opinion that we vastly disagree on.
McCain’s honorable service and heroic days as a POW doesn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, mean that his ideas and policies are automatically the correct ideas and policies.
I completely and 100% agree with the comment that McCain backers jumped all over by Wesley Clark.
Being a POW is not a prerequisite for being President of the United States.
It is a compelling story, but being a POW doesn’t make you any better or worse qualified than someone that wasn’t a POW. It shows you are a strong person physically and mentally, but it doesn’t mean you are a better candidate than a non-POW.
His 5 years as a POW doesn’t make me and my family any safer and it doesn’t make gas and energy any cheaper. It doesn’t bring down my food costs. It doesn’t stop the housing crisis or make healthcare any more affordable. His 5 years as a POW doesn’t reverse the abuses of the past 8 years in eavesdropping, preemptive war or suspension of Habeaus. You would think that his 5 years as a POW may reverse Bush and say that ALL torture is wrong, but McCain folded and said ok… some is ok.
So I do agree that his story is a good story and a heroic story. I have no problem with them bringing it up. But to say someone is better than the other because of that, I don’t think does the story justice.
Speaking of life stories…
When does the GOP ever say that Obama’s life story is inspiring?
Born to an unwed, mixed race couple where the mother was a teenager. Raised by a single mom. Living in different countries. Raised by his grandparents at one point. Etc…etc…etc…
Of course… being raised by a single mom from a mixed race couple by no means makes him a better candidate than someone else.
Both life stories are inspiring. Neither qualifies one candidate over the other.
2. KMorrison | September 12th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Good point. I certainly don’t mean to argue that issues aren’t important, and recognize that if his political positions aren’t close to yours voting for him certainly doesn’t make sense.
Also, that experience isn’t a pre-requisite for the presidency, but it provides an incite and a difference between him and some other Republicans. He has an excellent human rights record. He pushed through, with Lindsey Graham, the most most recent anti-torture legislation. He has an understanding of being powerless, which I do think makes him rather unique. It also shows how he reacts under pressure, and shows resiliency. Certainly it isn’t the only thing, but I do think it is an important piece of who he is, and why he would make an effective leader.
I agree Senator Obama deserves credit for his story, and I think Senator McCain has said that too including the night of Senator Obama’s acceptance speech.
What I found particularly compelling about the Democrat’s convention was seeing the emotion of some of the older African American people in the audience. To think that they lived through segregation, and are now seeing the first African American presidential nominee is quite remarkable. Already, Senator Obama has made a mark on history, and you’re right he deserves credit for that.
3. Eric T | September 12th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
My favorite part was:
“I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for.”
I think that is the real difference between, John McCain and Obama.
Barack’s record on guns shows he just doesn’t grasp the concept of Freedom.
4. KMorrison | September 12th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Eric - How do you like the Palin pick?
5. Eric T | September 12th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
I like her, she is a beautiful woman. She is Republican to the core, Women seem to be alot more excited about the GOP since McCain picked her. I think McCain picked someone the whole party is very happy with. I haven’t heard any GOP regulars, say anything but good things about her.
6. Eric T | September 13th, 2008 at 7:07 am
“a cause worth fighting for.”
KM check out this video clip-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwVA3oc1_T0&feature=related
There is a better version of this song by the Osborne Brothers.
7. Joe | September 13th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I like her, she is a beautiful woman.
Watch out Eric. McCain jumped all over Obama (even put it in an ad) that he “dismissed Palin as good looking”.
8. KMorrison | September 14th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Thought you’d like her Eric. I’m still smiling about her speech. I thought the Dems would have the convention edge; boy was I wrong.
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