The Sanity of the Next President

THE SANITY OF THE NEXT PRESIDENT, WHAT A CONCEPT....

What follows is a concern made even greater by the upcoming extravaganzas of the Democratic and GOP Conventions, where spectacle, adrenalin and showmanship (showpersonship?) may become too distracting for consideration of the issue of sanity of the next President, and perhaps too distracting for words. Here goes:

It is not news for anyone to express concerns about the mental stability of Senator John McCain. I confess sharing this worry, a worry made greater by the awareness of how many Americans perceive him to be the more reliable candidate in terms of national safety and defense. I was spurred to write this now after reading the provocative front page piece in August 10th’s Sunday’s New York Times, by Adam Nagourney and Jim Rutenberg, entitled “Embracing a Free-Form Style, McCain Leads a Camp Divided”.

Nagourney and Rutenberg begin their article with the words: “Senator John McCain is so quick to pick up his gold-colored cellphone to solicit advice—from senators, campaign consultants, even the stray former deputy press secretary—that aides, concerned about his tendency to adopt the last opinion he has, have tried to cut back on the time he has to make calls.” Consider, please, whether the last sentence might be more than a bit frightening.

Since I have devoted this blog to including the stuff between the lines that often goes unsaid, I am putting some imaginings together about a possible future President that needs his aides to hold back a cell phone from him. Hum, let’s see, can you imagine “President” McCain on one of the very big life or death phone calls from a foreign chief of state in one of those global life or death decisions? As he keeps his options open while consulting with present and former aides, his current most intimate assistants are counting the seconds of the call. They might even have to resort to a double, not double talking, but an impersonator in voice only. How about that for bizarre?

While many of us have seen President George W. Bush as surrounded in his own bubble by insidious liars and other officials who have seduced him into believing the sanity of his adventures, misadventures, torture and alienation of much of the world in his very own romp in Iraq and elsewhere, we now have a candidate who is purposefully duping us. He is parading as the soundest and most experienced, the safer of the two candidates, in peace or war. He is touting his heroism as one who was tortured while he undoubtedly agrees with the present Administration that Iraqi soldiers who have been torture victims have not been tortured but rather abused and that they are not soldiers but rather detainees. Someone should ask him soon about his take on this, while he still has a cell phone.

McCain poses a national (and international) threat, not because he changes his mind. Actually thinking about something and having a change of heart or waiting seconds rather than issuing a pat answer, would be most refreshing if one’s finger is not on a nuclear reactor’s button. Besides we could use flexibility of opinion after years of hearing the predictable twists of the predictable responses calculated to arouse fear and terror in our hearts and minds (if it gets that far) after more and more military engagement in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and oops Georgia! However the shift would need to imply and require something akin to thought as opposed to mere impulse.

McCain is the bad ass who embraced more torture than he had to endure and he is capitalizing on the patriotic frenzy during which many Americans have had to display flags to remember where they live, and to announce to all their undying (and perhaps dying) love for their country. As a non-Christian (I swear I pray to Jesus anyway!) I too have heard the phrase “Love thy Neighbor as Thyself”, also attributed to the great Jewish philosopher Hillel. Whoever spoke it first, it’s common enough in our lexicon to arouse at least peripheral attention. And while there are egotists enough to fill many countries, there seem to be few people in the fight for victory of the Presidency who understand self-love as including self-protection and care.

I for one, would prefer that the world stays viable for awhile, that global warming be attended to immediately, that we not jump into wars anywhere because something heinous was committed by people not in the country we “invade” (sorry of the use of invasion rather than liberation, but it had to be done). I don’t think that jumping into burning flames and inflaming hatred deserves ribbons or medals, Olympic or otherwise, or elevation to even greater misuse of power.

As someone I love very much might say at this point: It’s still a free country isn’t it? It’s still okay to express the freedom of speech, right?

I’m exercising the right. I am worried; and I feel we all should be. This is not partisanship, it’s caring about ourselves and our lives and our children’s lives so we can care for others. It’s caring enough that the actions our country takes are based not on the gain of a few translated into jingoistic language that is contagious.

It’s caring that “peace is in danger of become a dirty word. And it’s caring about embracing the notion of evil as existing in all of us. Whether it’s “original sin” or the aggression that we watch on television or our fervor and vigor with which we hope to dash and defeat our opponents, it has to be known to be fought, known so it can be integrated.

McCain is dangerous precisely because he admits no weakness, no frailty and as such no humanity.