Notes From D.R. | Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene

Two extraordinary individuals will be on the Presidential ballot November 4.

One individual has already made history, bursting through barriers to become a political and pop-cultural icon. He dismantled the most powerful political machine of the modern era, captivating the hearts of millions in the process.

His opponent is just as remarkable: a man who survived nearly six years of captivity in an earthly hell, emerging from that experience with a broken body but an intact spirit. Since the early 1980s, he has distinguished himself as one of the most effective lawmakers in United States history.

The course of America will indeed change after November 4. After eight highly controversial years, the country desperately needs a fresh start. Whether one supports or opposes the political vision of George W. Bush, one must admit that the boundaries of ideological segregation have become more rigid over the course of his Administration. It is not entirely
Mr. Bush’s fault—the likes of George Soros and David Brock also played key roles in deepening the red-state/blue-state chasm—but it’s impossible to deny that America is much more divided now than it was eight years ago.

With an economy in turmoil and a War on Terror decades away from conclusion, it is crucial that we find a way to heal the gory wounds of partisanship. A house divided against itself cannot stand—and the residents of that divided house will not be able to prevent their enemies from destroying its foundation.

Let’s set aside questions of age and youth, experience and inexperience. By objective standards, both Barack Obama and John McCain meet the minimum standards for the Presidential office. McCain may have a few years on Obama, but his mind and soul are still young. Obama may not have decades of experience in the Senate, but he has certainly learned much of life in his forty-seven years on this planet.

The main question facing the voter is this: of these two men, which one can heal the partisan divisions that have set us at war with each other? After all, if Americans are not united on some level, we won’t be able to resolve our economic, security, and energy problems.

Here the contrast is stark. McCain has spent his entire public-service career pursuing bipartisan goals; he has demonstrated a hunger for commonality and a thirst for consensus. He has repeatedly defied the will of his own party in order to reform America’s campaign-finance system, combat damage to the environment, reduce government waste and avoid human rights abuses in the prosecution of the War on Terror. McCain has refused to turn himself into a human robot capable of nothing but expressing rigid ideology; he is a fluid, energetic thinker who is politically married to the best interests of the country, as opposed to the best interests of one party.

It is profoundly regrettable that the same cannot honestly be said of Obama. While Obama is the most intellectually gifted Democrat Presidential contender since the days of Adlai Stevenson, his beautiful mind seems to turn ugly whenever he confronts an idea that is not progressive or liberal in nature. He is not “elitist” in the non-political sense of the word, but the abject scorn he demonstrates for the philosophies of the Reagan-Gingrich era fits the political definition of elitism. Whenever he talks of conservatism or Republicans, he ironically seems to cling to bitterness.

America has already exceeded its partisanship capacity—and despite his many attributes, Obama promises to add even more bulk to the strained containers of political division. The Democrat triumvirate of a President Obama, a House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will usher in an era of liberal supremacy, one marked by absolute governmental hostility towards anything not associated with the political left. This will inspire more rage from the disenfranchised right, more rhetorical vehemence from the empowered left, and more intolerable hyper-partisanship in a country whose heart has been weakened by severe political attacks.

The country has to be put first. Obama and McCain are equally qualified, equally capable, equally fit to lead. Thus, the “tiebreaker” is as follows: which man is more likely to move America beyond the age of extreme partisanship—the man who has spent his entire political career doing so, or the man who has spent his entire political career not doing so?

America cannot bear four more years of “my party, right or wrong.” After the intense partisanship of the Clinton ‘90s and the Bush ‘00s, the country must now elect a Commander-in-Chief who can see beyond red and blue, a leader who will not scorn those of a different party or philosophy, a person who surely understands that we are, at the end of the day, one nation. That person, and that candidate, is John McCain.