Holes In Thoughts: McCain/Obama: Character

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

McCain/Obama: Character

I'm going to be comparing and contrasting the two candidates (Clinton's toast, in my opinion) from time to time for a while.

In this post, I'm looking at character: the candidates' grounding in their beliefs and their general honesty and integrity.

I find this is a wash.

It's hard to criticize John McCain on character. He earned his way through the military, made a name for himself out of the shadow of his father, and what he did as a P.O.W. is impossible for myself and most other people to understand, even if it was thirty years ago. His reputation as a "maverick" isn't undeserved, and he has made a lot of stands with both sides of the aisle in Congress, and has angered the far-left as well as the far-right fairly regularly. He has also had a positive campaign.

Barack Obama's history is also almost impossible to criticize: he didn't have a lot going for him demographically (the child of a teen mom whose father left him), he worked hard, worked his way through Harvard and in a pretty dramatic way, declined the rich jobs as a high-time lawyer to work on the streets of Chicago.

John McCain should really be admired for his willingness to say in straightforward terms that he wants the Middle East to have the kind of American influence that we've had in Korea, Japan, and Germany (though, of course, not in Vietnam): 100 years of permanant bases. I don't think that's a realistic goal, but I have to say that his willingness to say something that he must've known he would be criticized for endlessly reflects well on his character.

Barack Obama is also keeping with that sort of honesty in an equally impressive manner, when he goes to Detroit to tell automakers to stop building terrible cars. He preached gay rights in a Southern Baptist church. That sort of thing is incredible, as well.

So I'll start this series saying that I can't be happier about the two parties' choices. I had made plans to leave the country, on the occasion that the nominations were to have gone to Hillary and Giuliani. Instead, I look forward to a tough but issues-centric campaign that ultimately will help Americans understand their own politics and nation better.

Labels: John McCain, Obama, politics

posted by Steve @ 3:14 AM

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