Doesn't Anyone Read History Anymore?

Okay, you know why YOU don't like John McCain. He's old, cranky, and he hobbles around like I did after my knee surgery. Maybe it's the condescending eyerolls during his debates that turns you off. Then again, it could be that crocodile grin that just screams "I am SO not happy inside right now" that sends you reeling into the Obama corner.

I suppose, in a way, that my own advanced age has made me a little more willing to listen to his message (mixed, garbled, angry, and seemingly uncomfortable with clear, complete sentences such as it is). It is what he says that gives me pause. Verbal gaffes can be funny, but aren't unpardonable. Who among us has not, in front of a boss or a partner not wished he'd bitten off his tongue before blurting out damaging misinformation? Where I draw distinction is when disregard for historical fact is cavalierly presented as truth. John McCain is fond of spicing up his campaign rhetoric with references to past Presidents. It is his casual use of their histories that bothers me. He gets away with it because sadly enough, we don't read history anymore.

Take for example, his recent comparison of Obama's economic policies, especially as regard taxes, to those of Herbert Hoover. This is an interesting observation, especially when viewed in the light of McCain's core campaign position that Barack Obama is not experienced enough for the Presidency. In fact, when Herbert Hoover took office, he was one of the most singularly qualified men to ever hold the office. He'd held highly responsible positions in government for the previous two decades, covering the World War, the regrettable "peace negotiations", and the period of prosperity that followed several years afterwards. Even so, his rigid character, and unwillingness to try anything different made him the worst possible captain of America's sinking economic ship. It was Hoover, after all, who claimed, shortly after the Stock Market crash, that the "fundemental business of the country.....is on a sound and prosperous basis". That sounds alot more like John McCain than Barack Obama.

McCain is also fond of giving shout outs to Teddy Roosevelt, his "hero". Now, no one can question Roosevelt's pre-Presidential resume. Undersecretary of the Navy, Governor of New York State...he was ready. However, this "maverick" was just someone who managed to irritate everyone in political power at the time, in particular, those in his own party. Roosevelt was hornswaggled into the Vice Presidency, at the time an office described as being "slightly more useless as a pitcher of warm spit". Basically, his fellow Republicans wanted to bury him. Fate intervened when President W. McKinley was assassinated. When Roosevelt was sworn in, he was the youngest man to ever assume the Presidency of the United States. I'm wondering where McCain sees kinship here, but wait...there's more.

During his time as President, Roosevelt shook up the office of President, which had previously been a place for stodgy old men to keep a kindly eye on the store, and a blind eye on the robber barons who were stealing it bloody. Roosevelt was the first to stand up to the Morgans and Schwabs. "I know the banker, merchant, and railroad king well, and they also need an education and sound chastisement" he would say in 1894. I think McCain said "I'm a deregulator". So much for hero worship, but wait....there's more.

Roosevelt, after his two terms as President, decided that he wanted another go at the big office. This time, however, his disaffection with his own party precluded his running as a Republican. Not one to be deterred, Roosevelt formed the Bull Moose Party, where he could really put his progressivist and imperialist doctrines into full throttle. The net result was that he split the ticket, causing his former party to lose. In fact, his candidacy was the premier reason for the election of Woodrow Wilson. Here I do see McCain following suit. For me, when I observe him in his chase for the presidency, I see only a man who is more concerned with the winning of the office than in the execution of its responsibilities. The cynical selection of Sarah Palin, the waffling of his campaign message from week to week, all lead me to the sad, but obvious conclusion that John McCain has a problem living up to the McCain legacy. A father and a grandfather who had become admirals in the navy, but because of his Viet Nam wounds, no ability for him to ever follow suit. John McCain wants to be President for the same reason G.W. Bush did. So daddy will finally approve of him, and frankly, that's just not good enough for me.