Back in the year 2000, I boarded John McCain’s campaignbus, the Straight Talk Express, and in a metaphorical sense, never got off.Here, truly, was something new under the political sun — a politician whobristled integrity and seemed to have nothing to hide. I continue to admireMcCain for those and other reasons, but the bus I once rode has gone wobbly.Recently, it veered into the mud.
I have in mind McCain’s charge that Barack Obama is thefavored presidential candidate of Hamas. The citation for this remark is thestatement of Ahmed Yousef, a Hamas political adviser, who said, “We like Obamaand we hope that he will win the election.” Yousef likened Obama to John F.Kennedy, and said Obama “has a vision to change America” and with it the world.Yousef apparently got so carried away that he forgot that Obama has repeatedlycalled Hamas a “terrorist organization.”
McCain seems to have forgotten that, too. His campaignhas sent out an e-mail showing how guilt by association really works. “BarackObama’s foreign policy plans have even won him praise from Hamas’ leaders,” itsaid. The message went on to claim that Obama’s foreign policy positions haveearned him “kind words” from Hamas.
Nevermind that this was the sort of campaigning thatMcCain vowed to eschew. More to the point is what McCain said in his owndefense. Not only was Yousef’s praise of Obama “a legitimate point ofdiscussion,” he said, but everyone should understand that McCain himself willbe “Hamas’s worst nightmare.” This aspect of McCain is my worst nightmare.
Just a day before McCain made that statement, CindyMcCain appeared on the “Today” show and responded to questions about herhusband’s age. She described a veritable Energizer Bunny who, among otherthings, plans to hike the Grand Canyon this summer. “He’s just a ball of fire,”she said.
At 72, McCain would be the oldest man ever electedpresident, and so age has to be a consideration. My concern for the moment,though, is not McCain’s physical age, but his intellectual age — hiswillingness to revise his views and grapple with the new. Thus far, he hasshown scant desire to do any of that.
He’s been running around thecountry costumed as a George W. Bush conservative. McCain’s tax plan is a jokeand his foreign policy is frightening.
When McCain says that he isHamas’ worst nightmare, what in the world is he talking about? Almost on adaily basis, Hamas launches rockets into southern Israel, occasionally killingsome poor soul. The latest victim was a 70-year-old woman. Israel usuallyretaliates and Palestinians — some of them just as innocent as the Israelivictim — are killed. You would think that Israel would be Hamas’s worst nightmare,but aside from the occasional — and fruitless — retaliatory raid, it cannotfigure out how to stop Hamas’s deadly activities. What would McCain do thatIsrael has not?
McCain supports the Iraq War. But Iraq is still a mess.Iran has gained influence both there and elsewhere in the region. Syria andIran together have made Hezbollah, another terrorist organization, animportant, if not dominant, factor in Lebanon. What would McCain do about this?Would he bomb Hezbollah? Israel has already done that. Would he occupy southernLebanon? Israel has done that, too. Has he noticed that all this military forcehas accomplished next to nothing? What are the particulars of the nightmare hehas in mind for a good chunk of the Middle East?
I hate to say it, but Yousef has a point. The MiddleEast desperately needs supple minds that are not mired in the past. I look atGaza and don’t know what to do. I have supported Israel in its policies there,but I have to admit that nothing has been gained from the non-recognition ofHamas. War doesn’t work. Isolation doesn’t work. For Israel, leaving Gazadidn’t work and, surely, McCain’s threat to Hamas will not give it a headache —a belly laugh is more like it.
The most admirable of McCain’s qualities — his lifestory, his integrity — make him particularly well suited to accomplish the nextpresident’s primary task, restoring the American people’s trust in theirgovernment. But ideas matter, and on the Middle East, McCain not only haslittle interesting to say but, in his swipe at Obama, a distinctly ugly way ofsaying it.
RichardCohen’s e-mail address is cohenr@washpost.com.
