I fully understand the passion so many Americans feel for Barack Obama. I was living in Illinois when he ran for the U. S. Senate, so I heard about him before most, but like many others, I first heard him speak during the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He exploded onto the national stage with a speech about his personal story as the son of an immigrant who was able to succeed because of the freedom of opportunity which exists in our nation as it does in no other place on the planet. He spoke about the importance of combining personal responsibility and hard work with an efficient, effective government. He spoke about dismissing the divisive notion of red states and blue states and embracing the reality of the United States. His words took root in the hearts of millions of Americans who said to themselves that night, “If this man were president, things could be so much better.”
Two and a half years later, Barack Obama agreed to run for president, and life changed for countless young people. College students and twenty-somethings, along with many of their elders, began to think politics mattered. Here was someone who understood their views, recognized their priorities, and actually had a legitimate chance to become the leader of the free world. Their passion for him has grown over the past eighteen months, and on November 4, they will cast their ballots with a joy and pride which will beam from their faces.
Now, imagine waiting for that feeling for ten years.
I first became aware of John McCain in late 1998. He was a frequent guest on the cable news networks at that time, and that increased dramatically when the crisis in Kosovo came to a head in 1999. McCain was supporting Bill Clinton's decision to use force to stop the genocide in that country. Remember that this was just after Clinton's impeachment. At that point, for a Republican to stand up and speak out in favor of anything Bill Clinton did was an act of incredible political courage. McCain was earnest, forthright, and, in a matter of great moral import, relentlessly nonpartisan. I was impressed.
As the year wore on, the presidential campaigns built momentum, and I studied John McCain. I had never heard of a politician who was so open about his failings. He admitted to his unfaithfulness to his first wife and took full responsibility for the destruction of their marriage. He made no effort to hide his reckless, irresponsible youth. And then he was shot down over Hanoi. I read Faith of My Fathers in 1999, and while the accounts there of McCain's time as a POW are moving, what stuck me most was the humility with which he related those events. He presents himself not as a hero who passed a great test, but as an ordinary man blessed with great comrades who gave him the support to survive. This was a man I could trust.
I supported McCain as vocally as I could in 1999 and early 2000, but by the time of the presidential primary in Tennessee, where I was living at the time, George W. Bush's 2000 nomination was a forgone conclusion. I didn't go to the polls that day. I still regret not casting my ballot for John McCain on principal alone.
Since then, I've watched McCain closely, and the more I've learned, the more I have wished he were president. I am fundamentally pro-life, and McCain has voted that way his entire career. True to his fashion, though, it's not just a vote for John McCain. When his wife, Cindy, came back from a mission trip and surprised him with a Bangladeshi child she wanted to adopt, McCain agreed, and they have raised Bridget as their own. How many men in this world would react that way to such a surprise? Few.
Everyone in this country talks about the need for bipartisanship in government, but when it comes to actually getting something done, precious few have been willing to sacrifice their precious ideological soapboxes in favor of a compromise solution. John McCain has time and again. He worked with Democrats Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform, John Kerry on increased fuel-economy standards, Joe Lieberman on climate change, and Ted Kennedy on immigration reform—and that's just in the last few years. (For the record, the first two of those pieces of legislation initially failed, but McCain didn't give up, and today the meat of those bills has become law. The other two failed as well, but do not doubt McCain will take them up again as a president or as a senator. He's just like that.) McCain also organized the so-called Gang of 14 (seven Republicans and seven Democrats) who brokered a compromise on judicial nominations. That compromise preserved the opportunity to filibuster, which is often the only thing that keeps a majority party from running roughshod over the minority. In essence, McCain's compromise ensured that the senate will be a place compromise is required for many years to come. That's good for every American.
The things Barack Obama talked about in that speech in 2004 which meant so much to so many Americans, John McCain has already done. Given the power of the presidency, there is every reason to believe he would continue doing them on an exponential scale. John McCain has a record I can believe in, and that's the reason my face lit up like a supernova when I cast my ballot for him today.
