This is Not the John McCain New Hampshire Once Loved
What happened to John McCain? What happened to the man so many of us in New Hampshire have admired and respected for so long? The fierce bipartisan warrior, the straight talker, the maverick whose ideas nearly everyone found some common ground with now seems missing in action. He seems to have betrayed the very attributes that originally commended him to us and earned our earlier trust and support.
We continue to stand in awe of his heroic service to his country during Vietnam, but now he shamelessly uses those experiences at every opportunity, as if it excuses him from having to answer any really tough questions about the economy or foreign policy. The answer to everything is not to mention his admittedly harrowing POW days. My experience interviewing heroes of war is that most prefer to deflect attention from themselves and let their record speak for itself. McCain seems to think that it buys him a permanent pass. But it is impossible to know how to fight the new wars if you are hopelessly lost in the old ones.
Surrounded and programmed by the lobbyists he once despised, the man who once effortlessly straddled the aisle and spoke from the heart now carefully hews to a prompter-read, soulless far-right agenda.
This is a man who once denounced and purposefully avoided the politics of personal destruction, having felt firsthand its painful consequences in 2000 in South Carolina, but who now wants to win at any cost. By ridiculing his opponent's commitment to public service, he has undermined the very reason we were drawn to McCain in the first place. By trying to steal the mantle of change from the Democrats, he demonstrates only the riskiness of his shoot-from-the-hip style. That may have worked in the Senate and on the campaign trail, but it is hardly presidential. In fact, it is frightening in the extreme and bespeaks an instability difficult to reconcile considering our complicated world and its myriad problems.
More to the point, he continues almost daily to demonstrate that instability and other judgmental and temperamental concerns, issues and complaints that originally brought a slew of challengers into the Republican primary contests. And in the most important decision of his candidacy, he cynically and irresponsibly chose the supremely unqualified Sarah Palin, cheapening the race as if it were some high school popularity contest or the latest "American Idol" competition.
Even the most ardent true-believers among us must be privately shaking in their boots contemplating a heart-beat-away Palin presidency during these difficult times. When Putin acts up, who do you want whispering in your President's ear: Joe Biden or Sarah Palin?
McCain is a man who once championed openness and fairness in government, who now wants to continue the failed policies of the current administration and who increasingly wants to make the crucial decisions of our democracy behind closed doors with the same cronies who got us into this mess in the first place. And he has shown a profound indifference to and often startling ignorance of economic affairs just as our country inches toward depression.
That threatens to make him the next Herbert Hoover if he should win. And his old strong suit, foreign policy, is slipping away too, as gaffe after gaffe displays his fundamental shortcomings. I want my President to know the difference between a Sunni and Shia. John McCain does not.
We in New Hampshire bear some responsibility, I suppose. Thinking we had the old McCain, we gave him a decisive victory in our primary that permitted him to vanquish those challengers. But he betrayed us. If you have to say you're a maverick in your ads, it's clear you're not. The real maverick turns out to be Barack Obama, who bucked his party's establishment and whose once-lonely positions have been adopted by nearly everyone including even the Bush administration. Nearly everyone, that is, except John McCain. So what happened to him?
That's what Granite State citizens have been asking the last few months. The answer is enough to turn us blue.
This article first appeared in the Manchester Union Leader.
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Ken, I hate to say it - I think John McCane has ALWAYS been in it for himself. We are just now seeing the real McCoy - so to speak.
As a respected historian and documentarian I would expect you to post a fact based commentary. It sounds as though you have completely swallowed the McCain Mythology. I refer you to Rolling Stone for a thorough review of McCain's pathetic history. He exemplifies the success made possible by patronage, preferential treatment, craven opportunism, dishonesty and self-promotion. McCain is the embodiment of something for nothing. He uses the coattails and influence of his father and grandfather to conceal his own mediocrity while whining about his need to succeed on is own. Our current Commander in Chief has the identical character flaws, lack of maturity and integrity. He, like McCain, also failed upward spectacularly. We have all paid the price.
Right, the indulged adolescent syndrome..
As for McCain, he's a legacy like Bush, but was able to play second fiddle to the guy who wiped up the tarmac with him in 2000. I would hate to think what would happen if thosre eight years of submission suddenly were unleased upon the world in the context of Presidential powers.
In my chosen profession (airlines) I have worked with several guys who new McCain in the Navy. Most did not have kind words to say about his performance, or lack there of (three crashed aircraft, etc.).
My biggest fear with this election is not the McCain/Palin ticket itself, but the very real possibility of this election getting stolen.
A close second to stolen elections is the amazing fact of willful ignorance that seems to be so pervasive in american voters. It seems that everyday this country gets one step closer to "idiocracy". If McSame gets elected I'm seriously going to start looking into expating the heck out of this country.
The sadness I feel is in seeing the polling so tight in New Hampshire where, after living here for three decades, I can only think that the underlying racism present in broad swaths of our population is rearing its ugly head. I must say though, that it does show the utter stupidity of such pathetic views as many continue to support McCain despite the fact that he has come completely unhinged.
I think a lot has to do with laziness, the familiar and incumbency. Many voters are to busy, uninterested or too lazy to bother to get informed about the McCain of 2008. Voters in New Hampshire got a good sense of who McCain was in 2000. He is familiar with the people of New Hampshire while Obama is seen as an outsider by many. During the primaries McCain was viewed as the incumbent because of his strong showing in New Hampshire in 2000. It is hard to dethrone an incumbent but as we get closer to the election I’m certain Obama will prevail. Many people like to procrastinate, as the election nears they will find the time to contrast the two and come to the correct choice.
Not so tight now ... two separate new polls give Obama a healthy lead.
Unfortunately, many Americans get their news from FOX or Rush. They don't read books or magazines, they don't think for themselves. And as we all know, it was this moronic segment of the population that resulted in the re-election of Bush in 2004. I am also concerned that the election may be stolen by the Rethugs, although the momentum seems to be moving towards Obama. If McCain/Palin win, Canada is going to look pretty good.
I once stood in awe of John McCain. I imagined him to be different from all the rest. I was proud when he called the millionaire hatemongers "agents of intolerance" in spite of their effectiveness as organizers for the Republican party. I have lost all respect now. He definitely turned me blue when he bowed down to those "agents of intolerance" when he realized he needed their endorsement. We should all now be concerned who McCain might be influenced by as President McCain. John McCain passed by extraordinary candidates and chose someone who he knew would please evangelicals - a woman with a down's syndrome infant and a pregnant teenage daughter. "Country First" is a laugh. I am voting Democrat for the first time in my life. I am looking forward to an end to this costly war and the pain and suffering it has caused, a national healthcare plan, a more compassionate White House, and to having a thoughtful and intellectual leader. I wish every voter would read this essay by Sean Gilfillan - http://www
Well said, I agree. I once stood in line two hours to get his book signed, right after his defeat in 2000. Now, I'll send the book to anyone for the price of postage.
I think McCain has been consumed by the impulse to get even with George Bush and has lost his soul in the process. If he doesn't win this, he will have still achieved something, indirectly. Palin. She isn't going away, and after four more years of grooming she will shove Jeb Bush right off the stage.
Thank you. I have never been so emotionally involved in politics. I care so much this time. If McCain wins, I will be distraught.
Great article. I wrote a similar one to a letter to the editor but it didn't get published. Also, what is not pointed out as often as it should be is the fact that Palin had to go through FIVE college transfers to earn her undergraduate degree -- including having to go to a community college so she wouldn't fail out. So in my book, Palin's educational experience demonstrates that she is below average in every respect.
Thank you for responding! Maybe others have read the Gilfillan essay also. I am surprised more is not made over Barack Obama being editor of the Harvard Law Review.
What happened? Two words: Karl Rove.
I agree. It's too bad Ken Burns doesn't have time to make a documentary based on this column between now and November 4th.
The truth of the matter would be shocking. Fortunately Ken doesn't have to waste his time:
Brave New Films:
http://www
As a fellow New Hampshirian, it is very nice to hear you speak out on the matter - I've been worried that the people of this state had begun to lose their judgment after rightfully having rebuked Bush in the 2004 election.
Great post.
it is clear that the cynical, reckless, and politics-o
palin was chosen by the same cheney/rove neocons that engineered the bush agenda, the people behind the curtains, the staff and advisors running the campaign --- after being told he was a sure loser in this campaign, mccain was given the courtesy of a phone call with palin before being forced to announce her as his VP pick ---
this speaks volumes about just how much of a "MAVERICK" mccain has become --- sadly, for a once respected and powerful political maverick, mccain has now devolved into a mere distraction from the real neocon candidate, sarah sixpack, being brought in through the back door --- by now, mccain must surely have grown to hate his own party, first for rejecting him, then for embracing him reluctantly and exacting the price of his own desperately shoddy soul .........
WOW! This is very, very well written, Ken Burns. You've stated what many who once supported McCain are now feeling. The disappointment is unmistakable. McCain should have been the republican answer to the two-term presidency of Bill Clinton -- sadly for us all, he was not. This is not the same man who ran in 2000. That McCain could have sold the "country first" slogan as easy as a cold drink on a hot day. But, like time, that John McCain is in the past. Now, let's send Gov. Palin back to Alaska and John McCain back to the Senate where we can only hope he will reach across the aisle without the cynicism and anger.
Ken, you have brilliantly researched and presented documentaries on two of the United States greatest challenges in it's history. The Civil War, and WWll. With the depth of knowledge you have about the stakes involved in those two periods, I can only imagine your fear of a McCain/Palin administration.
Let's hope Obama is this epoch's Abraham Lincoln or Roosevelt, because we're sure gonna need him to be. My gut feeling is that he is the president we need at this critical time. Smart, thoughtful, and willing to listen to different points of view, while also having the ability to inspire and organize the people for a common purpose.
I can imagine you in your old age making a documentary about the next years to come. Let's hope it will be about overcoming potential tragedy, rather than how people suffered through it.
There are two things that have made the US a great nation, one is our willingness to fight for liberty. The other is, to put it bluntly, Dumb luck.
That luck has always come to us in the form of presidents (well, Franklin and Hamilton, but anyway...)
McCain is not a great man. I think he once was, but once you sell your soul for the office, you are no longer worthy of it. Obama has the seed of a great man in him.
I hope our luck holds out.
We are blue, but we're certainly not depressed. The light bulb has exploded and we see who McCain really is now. McCain's unbridled ambition made him think he could take the bait of the Neocon Agenda who thought they had the US electorate in their back pockets. McCain watched the Neocons successfully steer Bush into office using slander and deception, it was fairly easy then. But, history seldom repeats itself in back to back mistakes. What they didn't anticipate was that after 8 years of mind numbing madness, the people still have brains and the people's children, despite being dumbed down in school, listened carefully to at-home political ranting and now are old enough, able enough and ready to vote.
Maybe the greatest generation is the youth of today and their ability to fight for their country by voting to save it.
Palin set a good example for our youth. Disobedience, avoidance, outright lying, sarcasm, and lack of basic knowledge. Heads up there, third graders, extra credit for this kind of behavior.
If Shakespeare could come back from the dead to write one more tragedy, "McCain" would be his greatest work.
I totally agree well stated. It is all so true what a human tragedy it is like the man has given up his soul for power. It is truly sad except that peace for america and the world is at stake if McCain should win.
No, McCain is much too flawed to mirror Macbeth. He was cited in his Naval career for poor judgment. Check the link: http://www
you can see his judgment in the stark light of reality for yourself
http://www
Upon further review, you are right. I stand corrected.
Thanks, Ken. You are a first-rate film maker and blogger.
Thank you, Ken from a neighbor and a big fan. You have put perfectly what I've been trying to tell my McCain supporting friends all summer. This is not the John McCain of 2000. This is not even the John McCain they voted for in January. That John McCain has been completely corrupted by his own ambition to become President and it is now certain that he will stop at almost nothing to achieve that goal.
Shame on him, shame on the Republican Party, and shame on anyone who still supports John McCain after witnessing his campaign with both eyes open. It is a harsh judgment but a justifiable one.
I agree 100%. McCain hitched his wagon to the neocon horse--and wow--who would have thought how low he would go to win a presidency. McCain has no honor and with how he has conducted himself during this campaign--he should be ashamed. His actions have not only destroyed his reputation but has severly maimed his party as well; for which I say good riddance McCain has become extremely ugly during this campaign and from what I can tell he has no intention of changing it. I will just be thankful when it's all over and Obama is sworn in--after 8 years of republican destruction, we have a lot of work to do.
McCain should have left the GOP in 2000 after all the smearing going on from the guys who are currently working with him (how desperate must you be to crawl back to those who bullied you?). As an independent, however, chances are virtually non-existent to even get through the primaries. He could have worked as an adviser or in the private sector. But he INSISTED to be POTUS. Why, John, why?
Now, with his (supposed) legacy and integrity destroyed, he'll be worse off when losing election. McCain, the gambler, gambled too much (Palin!) and lost.
No pity from me.
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