War Prism

Andrew Sullivan posted the following video today



His post's title was "Noun, Verb, POW" - a play off Joe Biden's humorous criticism of Rudy Guliani and his seeming inability to refer to anything that was not somehow related to 9/11. This meme of noun, verb, pow is starting to take hold in the media. To me, though, a more important point is becoming clear than whether or not McCain is politicizing his experience as a prisoner of war. The more I listen to McCain I realize that he refers back to his POW experience and other military experiences for the simple reason that they have had an obvious transformative effect on him. Rightfully so. And unlike many who returned from Vietnam tragically dysfunctional, McCain has been able to make something quite productive out of his life.

But to ignore the impact that his experiences have had is to ignore something very fundamental about McCain - he would be a war president. The more one listens the more it is obvious that his whole existence is lived through a military prism. I really don't think that this is somehow a relentless attempt to draw attention to his heroism. I think his experiences have had such a profound impact on him that he is no longer able to disassociate military affairs with other aspects of policy.

I do not necessarily mean to imply that one should make such distinctions. I personally feel conflicted as to whether or not one can realistically do so. But it does tell you something about who John McCain is and what to expect from him as a president. If you too believe that all matters have military implications than maybe he is your guy. If not, well, then maybe not.