The Gambler

John McCain's been a gambler since the day he was born, and not just at the $100-a-chip craps tables (as the New York Times reported yesterday). At the Naval Academy he gambled on bucking upperclassmen, harming his reputation, and on not studying for math exams, ending up near the bottom of his class. 

In 1981, he turned down an offered admiral's star to try instead politics in Arizona.  In 2000 he gambled on a presidential campaign and lost, to a younger George W. Bush, tarnishing his reputation as a straight shooter in the process.

Last month, he gambled when he picked an almost unknown Sarah Palin for VP. What were her ethics like?  Did she carry baggage? Would she be able to talk coherently to the media?  By the way in which the McCain campaign has been hiding her, some might speculate that the answer is no.  

On Wednesday, McCain went double-down, shutting down his campaign, and vowing to stay away from debates until the Bailout Bill is law, then changing his mind.  Will this latest move be seen as a sacrifice for his country? Or as frantic and failing ploy to delay the 26 Oct. debate and squeeze out the VP debate? 

Having decided to debate Obama last Friday, he gambled on attacking personally ("he doesn't get it") multiple times, energizing the GOP base while irritating to many unaffiliated and undecided moderates.  How will this net out?

On many of these questions, it's too early to tell. But one thing is clear: John McCain consistently flies by the seat of his pants. Sometimes this works out, and sometimes (as in his being part of the "Keating 5", America's prior major banking scandal almost 20 years ago) it doesn't. 

Is McCain the sort of gambler who knows both when to hold them and when to fold them? Will McCain recognize that Palin is so embarrassing that even conservative columnists are praying for him to retrench? Or will he try to bluff his way through what now appears to be a hastily and poorly conceived choice? Or the sort of gambler who sometimes gets in over his head, as investigative reporter Gerald Posner just suggested? 

And, more to the point: Is a reckless gambler who may have lost a step really the sort of person we need as the next President of the United States? 

Gary Marcus is author of Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind.

Guest blogger Phil Marcus, Gary's father, is President of NegotiationPro.com

Comments

[XME]

Clearly his gambling is out of control...and I'm not talking about craps.

[exmate]

John McCain's compulsive gambling is a metaphor for his life. Voting for McCain would be the ultimate crapshoot.

[mabs]

Was McCain ever actually in line for an Admiral's star? I thought that myth had been discredited. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-klein/mccains-secret-questionab_b_107409.html

[darker]

McCain with STARS in his eyes.

Republicans of today campaign permanently. Decisions they make are NOT about governing.
They're about CAMPAIGNING. So our government IS A CHRONIC MESS.
Therefore, Republicans CANNOT GOVERN at all.

When Republicans say "victory" and mean FAILURE.
Republicans BLAME, BLAME, BLAME.
Who should Republicans blame. THEMSELVES.

Today's IRRESPONSIBLE Republicans want 4, 8 MORE YEARS? ? ?
The Republicans WHO PROVED CANNOT GOVERN?
The Re[ib;ocams who ONLY DIVIDE US?

Irresponsible Republicans who crashed everything imaginable and corrupted for 8 years?

No thanks. NO MORE YEARS.
Republicans DESERVE TO LOSE the presidential election this time.
No more votes for FAILURES.

[martymartymarty]

I sure hope his fondness for the craps table and all of the cronies and lobbyists for the gambling industry who have his ear get paraded around for all of the Christian Conservatives to heed. This type of gambling will discredit him in their eyes, those they see with, even if they stay blind to the other gambles he is taking with what is good for the American people. "Country First". Yeah, okay.

[Indie2008]

And where does the religious right stand on gambling. The turn out in droves to vote against state lotteries.

[darker]

No more McCain, no more GOP. THEY CANNOT GOVERN AT ALL.

Republicans by their actions and attitudes proved they aren't statesmen. They've got corporate interests in mind, and not those of average Americans.

Republicans proved they specialize in dividing, not uniting with
anybody on a common goal.

REPUBLICANS PROVED THEY CANNOT GOVERN. They've made one mess after another--and handed the bill to middle income Americans.

We CAN'T AFFORD REPUBLICANS any more.
THEY'RE TOO EXPENSIVE!
We're going bankrupt because they don't want to govern
for the benefit of all Americans and take care of only "their few".

NO MORE YEARS for Republicans.
Enough is enough.

[rhettab]

I'd like to know why the gambling story isn't out there at all - had to search hard for it on HP yesterday even tho it was front page of yesterday's NYTimes and headline here. It's a huge story.
The base should love it!

[BarackMarley]

Check out the story of the Keating 5 and why it still relates to McCain now
http://www.newsone.com/article/keating-5-scandal-shows-mccains-ties-to-bad-economy

[longislandlol]

we have all seen what gambling does in families- my uncle mo lost his house, savings, his family cause craps took over instead- and he did not have an hieress to bail him out-- aunt Jill fled with the distraught kids-- and my dad had to suppory 3 more people besides me and my mom-- our country cannot afford johhny the roll of the dice johhnny--