In using lies to attack Obama, John McCain has abandoned the ethical standards he learned to live by as a midshipman at the Naval Academy a half century ago
John McCain and I have a number of things in common. We are roughly the same age. He's 72. I'm 70. We were both career military officers - he in the Navy and I in the Army. We both served in Vietnam and have combat related disabilities.
When we were undergoing officer training - he at the Naval Academy and I at Notre Dame, we were taught similar lessons about how we should conduct ourselves as military officers, such as placing the welfare of our troops before our own.
One of the Army core values I learned was to always do what is right, legally and morally. Soldiers are expected to have integrity, which is described as a quality one develops by adhering to moral principles and requires that you do and say nothing that deceives others.
Similarly, the Naval Academy Honor Concept states very simply that "Midshipmen are persons of integrity: They stand for that which is right. They tell the truth and ensure that the full truth is known. They do not lie."
I can’t help but think that John McCain is conflicted over permitting his campaign to use outright lies and innuendo to attack Obama, employing tactics used against him in 2000 by Bush minions, who are the very same people working for him now.
As a fellow officer, I am deeply saddened by his decision to abandon the ethical standards we both learned to live by almost a half century ago.
Recently, as I reflected on McCain’s unworthy actions, I recalled a maxim I first heard when I was a cadet, which seems especially pertinent.
It goes:
When wealth is lost, nothing is lost
When health is lost, something is lost
When character is lost, all is lost