Is John McCain The Best Choice

Last Thursday night after the Vice Presidential debate, a news commentator on Fox News finally said what I have been waiting for someone to point out, John McCain was the Presidential candidate for the Republican Party by default. Why? He was the last man standing among the candidates. Last fall when I heard that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was in the running as a Presidential candidate I was excited about the prospect of a real Arkansasian being in the White House. Of course I did not have to wait with baited breath to see who I was going to support. As time rolled on during the spring the rumors began to surface that John McCain was out and that Giuliani was in and Romney was in trouble. I hedged my political thoughts to the former Arkansas governor thinking in this atmosphere surely he could and would win. I thought that McCain was past his time, Romney was too dry, Thompson came to the party but didn’t participate and Giuliani was too liberal. The problem was that the Christian leadership under whose banner I work did not come to Governor Huckabee’s assistance until extremely late in the campaign, toward the very end. Giuliani made a bad decision to place all of his efforts in Florida, Huckabee badly crippled Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire, while John McCain stole the show from Romney in Michigan. When the dust cleared two men were left standing, one with the full Republican Party support and the other with his down home humor and class. When John McCain finally reached the full 1100 points needed, Huckabee bowed out leaving McCain as the clear winner.

When this happened I began to hear the rumblings of people like Jim Dobson of Focus on the Family and others criticizing the Republican choice. As I listened to the leadership of the Christian faithful I began to become very displeased with the leadership. First of all, I like them, felt very disappointed. The whole scenario reminded me of the 1990’s when Robert Dole (Republican) went up against a very youthful and charismatic Presidential incumbent Bill Clinton. It was the Republican Parties way of acknowledging that Bob Dole’s time had come and would soon pass. It almost felt like they were saying, “Okay we know this is your last chance. Go ahead and make the one last push for the White House with our blessing.” The problem was that Bob Dole had to rely on Elizabeth Dole (his wife) to energize the mainstream right (yes I did put those two thoughts together). Here I feel the same way. An older, well seasoned veteran who had made a couple of strong attempts to be in the running, who is now having to rely on his Vice Presidential running mate to energize the mainstream right. However, my disgruntlement with those who serve in Christian leadership was the fact that they bemoaned John McCain receiving the nomination but waited until the last minute of the last hour on the last day of the last big caucuses and primaries to back Huckabee. Wow! My thought at the time was that they had nothing to complain about, Huckabee should have been a shoe-in and they chose to wait.

Now we are caught with a party which has a young, energetic, charismatic personality up against an older, seasoned veteran who lacks the excitement and appeal he had seven years ago. While I have always admired McCain from a distance I have also had my issues with him. So now to the question; Was John McCain the best choice? Now for the answer. In this atmosphere, probably not. Having said that between the two is he the better choice? Yes! He has the experience, the knowledge, the personal winsomeness, and the record to prove it. The one thing to say about McCain that cannot be said for Obama is the fact that he will shot straight with the American people. Over and over, person after person has come out of the woodworks stating the same thing, that John McCain is who you see. Obama has a problem with honesty, from what I am hearing McCain, while not perfect, has less of one.