Just Where/When Has McCain Led in Any Crisis? His Only 2 Speeds are Lame and Impetuous

From Joe Biden's comments, the McCain campaign is launching another effort to convince people that Barack Obama's election will prompt another terrorist attack to "test" him.

McCain asserts he has been tested, and thus such a challenge will not occur. Somehow, the notion that John McCain is equipped to lead in a crisis because he has done so before appears blithely to be accepted.

What crisis did he lead in? I understand he was mobilized during the Cuban Missile crisis, sitting in his warplane on the deck of the USS Enterprise. But, unless I am mistaken, warplane pilots are ordered a) when and b) what, to attack. Where's the leadership?

My reading of the history of that event is that it was President John F Kennedy who led the response, in part by keeping direct control over orders to operational forces so that no Admiral or General could send the wrong message to the troops and trigger a war that could have ended civilization. And that Attorney General Robert Kennedy suggested we resolve the crisis by ignoring a threatening message from the Soviet Union and responding only to an earlier, more conciliatory message.

I may have missed it, but I never read of John McCain's leading anything in that crisis. And, thankfully. With his impulsive leadership style, we might not be here writing about it. I cannot imagine McCain paying such close scrutiny to every detail as did President Kennedy.

Subsequently, McCain suffered for 5 years as a POW in Vietnam. He, like 600 others, heroically refused early release in exchange for signing "confessions." That was heroism. Was it leadership in a crisis?

McCain was not promoted to Admiral. Clearly, the top-brass did not think McCain was leadership material.

McCain suffered at least two crises in his personal life. His wife, Cindy, became addicted to drugs. McCain claimed he was unaware. One mark of leadership is pre-awareness of problems when the signals are "soft." He did not notice something going on in his own home when the evidence was clear and unequivocal.

McCain also is/was addicted to gambling. He was unable to "lead himself" out of that morass. Another mark of leadership is self-awareness. He seemed to have none.

A good leader puts the right people in the right jobs doing the right things. Take that definition and match it with Sarah Palin.

The financial meltdown is the only "crisis" in which we have observed McCain operating. One can understand why the top-brass never considered him Admiral material.

Leadership requires a clear view of the road forward, an understanding of what it takes to get there, a rational assessment of whether those match, and an ability to communicate the vision to others whose support is critical.

McCain's behavior during the financial meltdown could be a movie, Clueless in America. On day 1, the fundamentals were, he said, strong. On the morning of day 2 he opposed the AIG takeover; by the late afternoon, it was the right thing to do. On day 3 he proposed a Commission, like the Social Security Commission in the 1980s. On day 4 he suspended his campaign to go to Washington, and declared the coming debate would have to be delayed. On day 5 he went to Washington, solved nothing, and debated on day 6.

But McCain may be right about one aspect. If he were President, our enemies might not feel a need to concoct a crisis.

McCain IS the crisis. I believe the electorate has sensed that.

Comments

[1laingirl]

McCain has been saying recently that he's been fighting for the USA since he was 17! I understand that the only fighting he did at that age was with roommates and/or in bars!

[shel3364]

But... he KNOWS things...

He KNOWS how to win wars.
He KNOWS how to catch Bin Laden.
He KNOWS how to fix the economy.
He KNOWS how to settle the immigration issue.
He KNOWS how to lead.
He KNOWS how to pick a Veep.


He says so, therefore it must be so.

[constantlyconfused]

shel3364 said:

"But... he KNOWS things...

He KNOWS how to win wars.
He KNOWS how to catch Bin Laden.
He KNOWS how to fix the economy.
He KNOWS how to settle the immigration issue.
He KNOWS how to lead.
He KNOWS how to pick a Veep.

He says so, therefore it must be so."

I'd like to know when he plans to share his knowledge with everyone else. Oh, wait....he probably can't remember!

[NationalTreasure]

McCain claims that no foreign leader would test him because McCain has been tested during the Cuban Missle Crisis. McCain makes it sound like he was the president or a top naval officer.

In 1961 McCain was crashing planes in Corpus Cristi, Texas and also caused an international incident in Spain when he flew a plane through power lines and took out power in an entire region of Spain.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

[4real]

Thank you!

The MSM seems to let Mccane off the hook when he declares he is tested, knows how to win wars, knows how to catch Bin Laden, knows how to balance the budget.

Like you stated so clearly in your post being a POW is heroic but that does not translate into leadership. Some people are born leaders and Mccane is not one of them.

[KansasWrangler]

Excellent , Mr. Abrams. I shake my head whenever McCain tries to pass himself off as a leader. Even when he was being all "mavericky" he had no followers; you need those to be a leader.

[timezone]

Frankly, I would think McCain would be the one tested. His confusing strategies and hair trigger temper would seem to make him the easier target if someone wanted to get a reaction from our leader. I also didn't see what he did as leader and how he had been "tested". Because he was in the military doesn't mean he had to make any decisions about diplomacy and decisions involved in getting into a war or what to do about the economy or unemployment.

[stateretiree]

McCains sidekick Joe Lieberlips said basically the same thing as Biden. that whoever is elected President will probably be tested by foreign leaders. McCain must have been asleep when he said that and Palin must have had her head up her you know what!

[MaryT63]

Thanks for the article. I, too, fail to see where the leadership McCain is saying that he has been tested. He says this but no one challenges him as to when, what, where? Since the Obama camp has decided not to go negative, but who out there is going to challenges these statements made by McCain.
Even w the socialism remarks, no one is challenging these statements. The McCain camp is lying to the low information people for a vote. This may be a capitalism country but w social bearings that keep capitalism in check. Pure capitalism is free market w no checks/balances which brought down the stock market in 1929, 1987 & 2008.

[phoebie]

I've always found it hypocritcal of McCain to be pushing his health care agenda with a $5,000 tax credit. All his life, he has had health care provided for him by the government - his father being in the navy, attending a military academy, the service and now the senate. Has he ever had to pay a dime for health care? Since he attended a military academy, he has never had to pay nor did his parents pay for his education. The worry of how to pay for college or the back breaking debt of student loans was never a concern. We supplied the health care and college for John McCain. I'm not about to supply him a another house - The White House.

[Bluesue]

Here's another insightful article into McCain from MarketWatch. It's commentary written by Rex Nutting, Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch. It has several sections but here's a few excerpts:

Lack of Accomplishment

McCain hasn't accomplished much in the Senate. Even his own campaign doesn't trumpet his successes, probably because the few victories he's had still rankle Republicans.

His campaign finance law failed to significantly reduce the role of money in politics. He failed to get a big tobacco bill through the Senate. He's failed to change the way Congress spends money; his bill to give the president a line-item veto was declared unconstitutional, and the system of pork and earmarks continues unabated. He failed to reform the immigration system.

No leadership

McCain has frequently taken on near-impossible missions that go against the grain of his party. It's the basis of his reputation as a maverick. But McCain has never been able to bring more than a handful of Republicans along with him on issues such as campaign finance reform or immigration. Democrats on the Hill have accepted McCain's help on some issues, but except for a few exceptions (John Kerry and Joe Lieberman), they've never warmed to him.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/why-mccain-would-mediocre-president/story.aspx?guid={4914192B-12AF-4623-AB18-5EFE91204B04}

[MelRoy]

The job of the Enterprise and all the other ships was to form a blockade to ensure that arms were not being transported to Cuba by Russian ships. The Cuban Missile Crisis was 13 days in all - the blockade was about 6 days. During the blockade, one Russian ship approached the blockade and was let through because it was carrying food and medicine, not arms. The rest of the Russian fleet didn't even get close - turned back. As far as I can determine, it was never part of the strategy that bombers should be deployed - and pilots were not on standby to bomb Cuba. The government had conducted a study and determined the loss of innocent life would be too great, so bombing was off the table. Even if Cuba launched missiles against the US, the damage would have already been done.

I also wonder, with the slim possibility bombers would have been deployed, if they would have let McCain deploy. After all, he had already crashed, I think, two planes out of two at that point, hotdogging in the (Texas) Gulf and the Med? For such a crucial mission, I think they would have kept McCain on the deck.

If deployed, would he have risen to the challenge? Would he have carried out his mission, or would he have hotdogged again? If there was a skirmish between US and Russian battleships, would McCain have turned tail and ran like he did when the Forrester caught fire?

[JPHR]

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23316912/makebelieve_maverick/print

[BryantG]

Given McCain's proclivity for the dramatic (the Palin pick, the campaign suspension, the convention postponement, etc), he's the kind of guy who would try to bluff Russia on an issue and end up getting us all killed.

Please dont vote for that guy! As Matthews put it "do we want to go through four years of McCain's razzle-dazzle moves?"

[BryantG]

Man, I've been dying for someone to raise this essential question. When McCain says "...I've been tested..." I ask when and where?

Surely senatorial activities don't comprise a presidential leadership test. Neither is getting shot down in or crashing a jet, or being a POW, or being tortured. I know he commanded a squadron, or air wing or something, but I believe that was during peace time.

How does he get away with making up facts and not being called out on it? Everyone just takes it as a given. It's sort of like the thing where everybody believed Iraq caused 911. It wasn't true but everyone accepted it as fact. How does something like this happen?

I suspect that if he's called out on it his guys will throw around that duty, honor, country garbage. Like when Wesley Clarke was excommunicated for saying that getting shot down and becomming a prisoner hardly qualified one to be president.

John McCain is no more qualified to be president than Barak Obama is. He's just older, been around a lot longer, and uses his military service like a shield and bludgeon.

Man am I suck of that guy!

[RealDaddy]

The Truth about McCain

In nearly every rally, the Republican mantra is "We're going to fight" for this, 'fight' for that; now John McCain is claiming he's 'going to test the enemy' (and Palin is no different). On the converse side, I've noticed no references to 'fight' - but have noticed the word 'compete', and or 'engage' other gentler, not so pointed terms.

The instigation of a 'fight' attitude, rallying the troops for battle so to speak, may just well work in wakening that barbarian 'warrior' instinct and I'd be willing to bet that this is no slip of the tongue. I'd bet that it's a subconscious message instead. Again conversely, I listen Obama/Biden and hear the words 'engage' and 'compete', and I wonder if these words of respect are designed to waken the intellectual, reasoning side of us all. Now I'm no psychologist, but I think Freud and his contemporaries would have a field day with this. And if no psychoanalyst has noticed, maybe it's high time they did.

It's exactly the mantra of John McCain et al, the Republican mantra of 'fight' (substitute for 'invade', 'bomb', etc.), that the entire world is afraid of. At this time in the world today, America doesn't need to wield its mighty sword, and scare the world with 'fighting words' - that is after all, what got America into its current world-view predicament. America needs to repeat a gentler mantra, so it can thrive in the world again, with respect.

[alguien]

i think everyone's just heard him wrong. he hasn't been saying "i've been tested," he's been saying "i've been TESTY"

that much we know is true.

[DoTheMath]

Verdad.

[LeBeau59741]

LOL- That correction is right up there with another favorite...
Bush Sr. never actually said "No New Taxes" , we misread his lips, what he actually said was "No Nude Texans"... a policy I can certainly support!