The Grandpa Problem
Over the past two days, John McCain has repeatedly made the same foreign policy gaffe, confusing Sunnis and Shiites and the relationship between Iran and Al Qaeda. While on a radio show, McCain suggested Iran was training Al Qaeda, and later repeated the claim multiple times in Israel. In the most publicized of those incidents, Senator Joe Lieberman is seen (and heard) correcting McCain, a scene Keith Olbermann referred to as a possible "senior moment." And despite being ridiculed by the media about those mistakes on Wednesday, the McCain campaign made the same mistake, yet again on Thursday, this time in a statement marking the war's fifth anniversary.
His error was not simply a misstatement; its repetition speaks for itself. It was, instead, evidence of a fundamental misunderstanding of Middle East politics. For a man who stakes his credibility on military affairs, to be unaware of the difference between Sunni and Shiite is unthinkable. This is not an issue of complexity or of disagreement and debate; it is as basic as knowing the difference between the two sides of this war. More importantly, McCain's ignorance seems to suggest an extremely limited comprehension of the politics of the entire region. Iran and Iraq are predominantly Shiite, but Shiites make up only 15% of the Muslim world. Might knowing that context help a president understand Iran's political objectives more clearly? Might knowing that fact help inform our decision making throughout the entire region, including Iraq? How can a man who doesn't understand a conflict help to resolve it?
His series of gaffes will no doubt become coveted ammunition, perhaps as damaging as his suggestion that the war might last 100 years. But they are also evidence of a larger problem McCain faces on the trail: the Grandpa problem. As a 71 year old man, John McCain would be the oldest man ever elected president. Recognizing the enormous rigor of the job, and the toll it has etched on the faces of those who have held it, many wonder if McCain can serve competently, and whether he will even contemplate a second term. Each time McCain makes a mistake on the campaign trail -- as he is often prone to do -- he will face questions about age, and whether the campaign and the presidency will strain him beyond his capacity.
McCain has tried to confront his age in a number of ways. He kept a rigorous campaign schedule during the Republican primary, proving an enormously impressive stamina. For a man who cannot lift his arms above his shoulders, the result of years of prison camp torture, he has certainly impressed. But he cannot afford to be seen as a grandfather confronting the first signs of senility. It would have been far better for McCain to have corrected the misstatements himself, hours, even days, after making the initial blunders. But having Senator Lieberman whisper the answer in his ear produced an undeniable imagery, that of weakness and dependency, of a grandfather struggling and confused.
Well-intended as he may have been, Joe Lieberman did a serious disservice to John McCain, a deeply satisfying irony. McCain cannot afford to have the general election debate focused on his age. But if he continues to show an alarming lack of knowledge on subjects crucial to the country, he may well help hasten his downfall.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Ageism. Sexism. Racism.
Isn't anyone else tired of all these -isms? We're so glad to "finally" be able to talk about the race issue in this country. As if we haven't been talking about it all along. It's not whether we're saying anything but what we're saying that matters. Clearly, there are other biases, prejudices and flat-out ignorances that politicians have to deal with. I'm no McCain fan, but if Dems are going to run after him with these senile-old-fool attacks, we're no better than the people insinuating that Obama is a Muslim or that Clinton is a nutcracking bitch.
We've already (barely) survived electing the dumbest president in history. Getting the oldest, blackest or most feminine president should be the least of our worries. Yet from the tenor of this article, we should probably be wondering whether McCain will even be able to raise his hand to give the Oath of Office. But it's nice to be able to finally talk about age in this country.
I understand your concerns about ageism, but I think that not mentioning the age of McCain would be a bit much, he will be the oldest elected president.
"For a man who stakes his credibility on military affairs, to be unaware of the difference between Sunni and Shiite is unthinkabl
When you consider who is in the White House now and his credentials, it is not only thinkable it is the norm in our politics. Being "aware" as in "knowing stuff" long ago fell out of fashion in our politics. I sort of believe that is about to reverse itself as we are beginning to see the incredible costs associated with the current reign of error.
What has the republican party offered voters since Eisenhower?
1960 - a mean and crooked hack.
1964 - AuH2O (who some will call principled but I think that came about - if it did - a bit later).
1968 - a mean, lying & crooked hack who this time won.
1972 - see 1960 & 1968
1976 - a fairly decent fellow & first appointed president with a serious politically expediency problem.
1980 - a "b" movie actor (though "The Killers" has some merit)
1984 - see above and add a man in later than the first stage of the "Big A".
1988 - Bush I. A man who never saw a buck he wouldn't suck. 'Nuff said.
1992 - "Read my hips."
1996 - Holy crap! An honorable, if miserly, man Good with one-liners on late night talk and suffering erectile dysfunction.
2000 - a selected, legacy president with an incredible passion for helping his friends amass greater fortunes no matter whose blood he must spill and whose money he must steal.
2004 - the same "decider guy" (death) from above.
2006 - A man who makes 1980 & 1984 seem lucid.
Not to say it hasn't worked for them and their true constituency.
Let's go even further back to give democrats their due:
Franklin Roosevelt-
Harry Truman-fried thousands of women and children with attomic weapons...
John F. Kennedy-Bay of Pigs[nuff said]
Lyndon Baines Johnson-Tonkin Gulf and excalating the Viet Nam war on a lie. 50,000 americans killed eventually.
Jimmy Carter-had lusted in his heart. and, presided over the kidnapping and confinement of an embassy full of americans
Clinton-known for his miltary acumen by blowing up baby formula factories in Iraq thereby ensuring our respect in the region.
And, now, a very popular candidate who has no experience and another candidate who is republican lite.
You got most of that right. And there's plenty more nastiness that can be laid to the feet of those democrats, also.
Your particular take on Jimmy Carter is odd as to its criticism. He indeed presided over the Iranian hostage situation but I don't see how anyone could have done other than he did and got those folks out alive. He was probably politically lucky in the sad failure of his politically motivated hostage rescue attempt. And here's to those who perished in the mistaken effort.
As to your final line, what's the point? The two dems are politiking (pot-licking) much like all presidential candidates before them. I'm saying that there are serious cracks showing in McCain's personality psychologically - and I'm no psychologist - which are unimportant to the powers that be outside of compromising his possible usefulness.
Personally I think McCain's been an ass his whole life, yet even asses have redeeming moments. Perhaps refusing to leave earlier than his fellow prisoners was his. I've seen no other.
It is difficult, though not impossible, to assume that gaffes by people who have been through his situation are not a sign of a slowing and developing rigidity of perceptions vis-a-vis action.
Perhaps we should have merged our two posts, presidential politics-wise.
Bay of Pigs nuff said? No, i don't think so and not by you because you aren't all that bright. The BOP was a CIA sponsored CIA action, that was hatched under Eisenhower with Nixon as the point man. I'd go on but I'm not going to do your research for you.
Jimmy Carter-lusted in his heart? Huh? Haven't we all? I know i do. And the embassy take-over was his fault why? because he gave the Shah asylum? A man who had been on the CIA payroll for years? Oh and lets not forget the illegal arms deal cut by the Republicans to keep them over there until after President Alzheimers was inaugurated.
Look skippy, you can't get your history lessons from Limbaugh, k? Go read a few books, or get mommy to read them to you.
Hmm. Loserman channels Sidewhispers as McCain loses his marble.
Loewe raises an interesting point- will McCain only govern for one term? Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but could he have cut a deal with Hillary for her to undermine Obama in 08 and then he steps down, giving her a clear path to what she has always coveted in 2012?
Good point. Considering he's already 72 yrs old...with health problems..
John Mcain has wanted to be president for so long now, I'm not sure he even remembers why. Like an old man that wakes up in the morning having to take a leak, he dosen't know why, he just knows he has to go.
Holly crap, at leas Regan finished second term as a dead man walking, this one is done before general election .... scary ...
Is it me, or does he looks like he is not even aware of being alive ??
McCain doesn't care that there are shias and sunis...he lumps them all into the same basket....
worked for Bush
I really think McCainis senile but the RNC won't admit it. After all he's just another puppet for the Bush agenda. He is the Manchurian Candidate personified. Joe Scarborough said he was just tired from his plane ride, and was making mistakes. He does stand by the Repubs ...no matter what.
This is what makes the republican machine so successful. They condense the entire war on terror to a bumper sticker - Al-Qaeda.
Democrats are trying to educate the public on the differences between Shia, Sunni, warlords, militia, Mahdi Army, insurgents, foreign fighters, Baathists, Kurds, etc., etc, while most Americans are still trying to find Iraq on the map.
Republicans say, "We are killing Al-Qaeda," and the public yells with joy, "We understand oh great republicans. What the hell are the democrats talking about?
"...while most Americans are still trying to find Iraq on the map."
How sad and how true, dlswriter. Even I, having a fair to middling grasp of both history and geography, have difficulty with Iraq and, worse, am constantly misplacing Kansas.
Yet your comments refine an issue even greater than McCain's age (who, let's face it, can still trot his very-much alive mother out from time to time). Bush himself was utterly clueless about the difference between the Sunni and Shia (which should not surprise us). Most Americans don't understand that these two sects have been warring for countless centuries over the rightful successor to the prophet Mohammed. Nor do many people know that Iraq has existed as a country only since the 1920s.
Al-Qaeda is shorthand for "the enemy". So long as we Americans are unable to discern the broadest geo-political outlines in the Middle East, we will be at war for a very, very long time and the Republicans will continue to paint the recalcitrant as unpatriotic.
"Bush himself was utterly clueless about the difference between the Sunni and Shia "
Was?? How bout "is"?
This is no gaffe.
It's not the Grandpa Problem; it's the Grandpa Defense. Basically, he can say anything and if it's dumb, it's just because he's old. By contrast, Clinton and Obama are middle-aged and articulate. If either of them misspeak, it's because they're lying. Bush does the same thing with his Moron Defense. In 2004, Bush committed as many, if not more, gaffes than Kerry, but Bush got away with his while Kerry was labeled a flip-flopper and a liar. The American people are much more forgiving to senility and idiocy than they are to lying, real or perceived.
You seem to think his statements were a mistake or the product of a confused mind.Nothi
The GOP base get their information from Rush Limbaugh and Fox News,Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter.40
With this kind of stupidity among our citizenry, I believe that perhaps we should consider other means of selecting our "leaders." We obviously need to do something differently, considering that we have a population of basically uneducated voters who gave us 8 years of Bush/Cheney.
A new poll shows McCain's numbers are much higher than Obama's (thanks to the non-stop droning by Hannity, O'Reilly, etc.about the Wright incident). Even with McCain's disturbing daily gaffes revealing his mental incompetence -- as well as his impatient chomping at the bit to attack Iran -- the electorate would rather have this aggressive, senile, swaggering, ethnocentric ignoramus in power, guarenteeing a continuation of the disastrous Bush status quo, than to have Obama as president (because he was part of a church congregation where his black pastor, who has dealt with a lifetime of racism in his own country, dared to speak the truth about America [can you say, "Ward Churchill?]).
I have faith that this country will get the leader that it deserves in November -- and I say that, not with patriotic pride, but with sheer frustration and disappointment.
They are the bad guys, we are the good.
That's obvious, inshallah.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
