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McCain: The Defense of American Honor
There is a very good piece on John McCain by Bret Stephens in today’s Wall Street Journal. He makes the case that McCain’s candidacy is, in many ways about the defense of America’s honor–an honor that was lost in Vietnam.
Despite being shaky on immigration and an opponent of freedom of speech during campaigns, I hope this is why McCain is resonating:
[Though] he continues to depend heavily on the votes of independents, his fundamental appeal is to American honor, which is also the trait he uniquely embodies among the GOP contenders. He seeks to turn his personal code of honor — the “No Surrender” slogan — into a national code. He rails against a news media that only begrudgingly recognizes American military gains, repeatedly citing as Exhibit A Time magazine’s refusal to name Gen. David Petraeus as its Person of the Year for 2007. Above all, he not only warns against the policy consequences of a failure in Iraq, but also stands against a philosophy, or psychology, that seeks to make a virtue of failure.