First it was that I didn't like the man, but then I grew to tolerate him. However it's only very recently that I've gained a new found respect for him and what he is capable of. The man? It's none other than John McCain. Those that really know me should be surprised at that statement and, to be honest, I am surprised myself that I would say I feel he would make a good president.
It is true that I haven't been the fondest of McCain. When the race between him and Obama were in it's earliest stages there was something that lingered about, something that I couldn't put my finger on that shadowed his character. Much of it was that he was coined as being the "Maverick", toeing the party line often. I am all for that maverick nature and not letting established barriers limit you, when it is called for that is. To me, in politics, it would seem like having that reputation would work against you, making you seem too shifty or weak. If you really want to be a maverick in Washington you don't jump the fence to make friends on the other side, you run to the place where no one is at and where no one seemingly wants to go, because that is the place where real change happens.
Still I remember myself saying "I could never vote for McCain." My reservations were still out on Barack Obama though. He seemed like a decent man, and he did capture that youthful fire. I won't deny that he has a talent for inspiration and he does make a great orator. I really wanted to believe that he was for change however I retained a speck of skepticism. I'm cautious of those "political evangelists" who's power is in words alone. I even thought about voting for Hillary Clinton. I saw her speak and she was very inspirational as well.
I soon came too and realized that I could never vote for her and the more I learned about Barack Obama the more I didn't want him in high office. I originally was a Ron Paul supporter unfortunately he didn't get the press to go as far in the election as I would like so I resigned myself to the fact that I probably wasn't going to vote in the Presidential Election. That is until there were some changes made.
The first was the employment of Sarah Palin as the vice-presidential hopeful for the GOP. She was a definite breath of fresh air when she came on the scene. I loved her optimism and that she was a true Washington outsider. When I saw her first major speech I felt like she could really make a difference.
The next change was truly unexpected. It is the suspension of his campaign by John McCain to go back to Washington as a Senator to assist in the current scramble to fix the economic meltdown. Surprising as it was I knew that this was a wise decision. He is still an elected official and he is still working for the people of Arizona. Therefore he has a responsibility to them and to us to continue his duties as such. Why this made such a great impression on me goes back to the widely used axiom that actions speak louder than words. And this decision was steeped in action.
The first action was showing that he has the ability of standing up, going to work and getting his hands dirty. I don't think we see enough of this. It seems, too often at times, that we have a "sidelines government", One that is caught just standing around. More precisely they are a reactive government, very rarely a proactive one. This financial debacle has shown that. However it's good to see someone get off those sidelines and on to the field. McCain believes that this problem is bigger than him and it may be even bigger than the election itself because it may determine the well being of our country. He knows that it has to be solved no matter what even if his campaign may suffer in the short term. What is that compared to the security of our nation? Nothing really. I admire him greatly for taking this stand.
What he showed is that doing is greater than talking. Talk is dead, we are way past deliberation. Now is the time to act, to do, to accomplish. We all know we have a problem, what we need is a drive for a solution, something to keep the train from barreling off the cliff.
This is action personified not, ironically, action that is talked about which is all we've come to expect from Presidential candidates in the past. This has caused me to view McCain in a different light. The action that McCain took has caused me to respect him more than I have ever in this election. Unfortunately we haven't seen such action from Obama.
I watched his statement and was furious. His common theme's in it were 1) we have a problem 2) we need to fix it and 3) the parties need to come together to solve it. This is obvious. His idea was to come up with a joint statement between McCain and himself about the financial crisis. Is this not more talk? This is the very kind of thing that we need less of. I then watched all the criticisms of McCain's suspension. Pundits called it a political stunt, a "hail mary" attempt to grab more points at the polls. I think people are confused in seeing a politician rushing to do a job, a sight rarely seen, and they don't really know what to make of it.
John McCain is far from perfect, were not going to get a perfect candidate, not now at least. What we can have is something that is better than what we have now. I don't think that Barack Obama can bring that but what McCain has shown me is that he has the potential to be the one that can.
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