Jeffrey Klein's piece about McCain's military servicecertainly has me thinking about the frame around which to cast John McCain.
Entitlement. Because of his military heritage, it's apparent that McCain was allowed to fly far beyond what his capabilities and record would have indicated. He crashed military hardware, putting his and civilians' lives in danger. He's sold his image as a "fighter jock", but he was on the B squad -- the Attack planes. In some ways his sense of entitlement landed him in a POW camp for 5+ years. Has anything changed?
Recklessness. McCain chose to keep flying -- living the fly boy lifestyle -- without doing the work it takes to maintain that status. He flew multi-million dollar aircraft paid for by taxpayers in ways that were hazardous. He was repeatedly incapable of seeing the consequences of his selfish, ill-conceived actions. Has anything changed?
Poor Judgment. All through his career as a Naval aviator, McCain must have confronted the fact that he was ill-equipped to conduct himself as befits someone entrusted with such a role. Yet he continued to put himself in harm's way when HE MUST HAVE KNOWN THAT HE WAS INADEQUATELY PREPARED FOR THE MISSION. Has anything changed?
Deceit. McCain has lived the fantasy that he was going to achieve Flag rank. The facts unearthed in the story plainly paint another picture. McCain floated around on a cloud of self-deception that he allowed to bleed into his personal narrative. He thinks that he sacrificed his Admiral's star for the good of the nation, when it plainly wasn't going to happen in the time frame in which he's told people that it would. He's lived a lie for 27 years, and done nothing to dispel it. This metastasized self-delusion is a dangerous trait. Has anything changed?
I think the arc of John McCain's personal narrative needs to become an issue. In some ways, it's amazing how similar McCain and Bush are. We didn't get to know Bush, and we've paid. We need to get to see that McCain's constitution is ill-suited for leadership.