John Nichols: ‘A Serious Question Of Character’
(The Nation) This column was written by John Nichols:
For many Americans, the measure of a candidate seeking the presidency comes down to questions of character.
Perhaps the most important of these is: How does he or she react under pressure?
It is certainly reasonable to surmise that, if a candidate cannot handle the rigors of the campaign, then he or she might have trouble tackling the responsibilities of the office.
It is this fair test that John McCain has, in recent days, been failing - badly.
There is no question that McCain has been hit hard by the success of Barack Obama’s trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and Europe.After essentially demanding that Obama make the trip — with the implicit suggestion that the presumptive Democratic nominee for president was not up to the challenges of the international stage — the Republican candidate and his supporters then whined about the fact that the media was paying attention to Obama’s travels.
As it turned out, McCain was right to worry that reporters, and by extension the American people, would be paying close attention to Obama’s global tour.
The Democratic candidate went from strength to strength, He focused attention on the mess that the Bush administration has made of Afghanistan, advanced the discussion of how and when to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, met with both Israelis and Palestinians on a successful transit of the Middle East, earned not just respect but encouragement from world leaders, consulted knowledgeably with U.S. generals and enjoyed the cheers of troops who treated him as their next commander-in-chief.
Desperate to find something to complain about, McCain seized on the fact that Obama did not visit wounded U.S. troops at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
The McCain camp has even gone so far as to suggest that the failure of the Democratic candidate to use wounded troops as the backdrop for a campaign-style visit to Germany “casts serious doubt on his judgment and calls into question his priorities.”
Read more at CBSNews.com
