From the ArcaMax Publishing, Richard Cohen Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/richardcohen/s-346963-623699
Back in the year 2000, I boarded John McCain's campaign bus, the
Straight Talk Express, and in a metaphorical sense, never got off.
Here, truly, was something new under the political sun -- a politician
who bristled integrity and seemed to have nothing to hide. I continue
to admire McCain for those and other reasons, but the bus I once rode
has gone wobbly. Recently, it veered into the mud.
I have in mind McCain's charge that Barack Obama is the favored
presidential candidate of Hamas. The citation for this remark is the
statement of Ahmed Yousef, a Hamas political adviser, who said, "We
like Obama and we hope that he will win the election." Yousef likened
Obama to John F. Kennedy, and said Obama "has a vision to change
America" and with it the world. Yousef apparently got so carried away
that he forgot that Obama has repeatedly called Hamas a "terrorist
organization."
McCain seems to have forgotten that, too. His campaign has sent out an
e-mail showing how guilt by association really works. "Barack Obama's
foreign policy plans have even won him praise from Hamas' leaders," it
said. The message went on to claim that Obama's foreign policy
positions have earned him "kind words" from Hamas.
Never mind that this was the sort of campaigning that McCain vowed to
eschew. More to the point is what McCain said in his own defense. Not
only was Yousef's praise of Obama "a legitimate point of discussion,"
he said, but everyone should understand that McCain himself will be
"Hamas' worst nightmare." This aspect of McCain is my worst
nightmare.
Just a day before McCain made that statement, Cindy McCain appeared on
the "Today" show and responded to questions about her husband's age.
She described a veritable Energizer Bunny who, among other things,
plans to hike the Grand Canyon this summer. "He's just a ball of
fire," she said.
At 72, McCain would be the oldest man ever elected president, and so
age has to be a consideration. My concern for the moment, though, is
not McCain's physical age, but his intellectual age -- his willingness
to revise his views and grapple with the new. Thus far, he has shown
scant desire to do any of that.
He's been running around the country costumed as a George W. Bush
conservative. McCain's tax plan is a joke and his foreign policy is
frightening.
When McCain says that he is Hamas' worst nightmare, what in the world
is he talking about? Almost on a daily basis, Hamas launches rockets
into southern Israel, occasionally killing some poor soul. The latest
victim was a father of four. Israel usually retaliates and
Palestinians -- some of them just as innocent as the Israeli victim --
are killed. You would think that Israel would be Hamas' worst
nightmare, but aside from the occasional -- and fruitless --
retaliatory raid, it cannot figure out how to stop Hamas' deadly
activities. What would McCain do that Israel has not?
McCain supports the Iraq War. But Iraq is still a mess. Iran has
gained influence both there and elsewhere in the region. Syria and
Iran together have made Hezbollah, another terrorist organization, an
important, if not dominant, factor in Lebanon. What would McCain do
about this? Would he bomb Hezbollah? Israel has already done that.
Would he occupy southern Lebanon? Israel has done that, too. Has he
noticed that all this military force has accomplished next to nothing?
What are the particulars of the nightmare he has in mind for a good
chunk of the Middle East?
I hate to say it, but Yousef has a point. The Middle East desperately
needs supple minds that are not mired in the past. I look at Gaza and
don't know what to do. I have supported Israel in its policies there,
but I have to admit that nothing has been gained from the
non-recognition of Hamas. War doesn't work. Isolation doesn't work.
For Israel, leaving Gaza didn't work and, surely, McCain's threat to
Hamas will not give it a headache -- a belly laugh is more like it.
The most admirable of McCain's qualities -- his life story, his
integrity -- make him particularly well suited to accomplish the next
president's primary task, restoring the American people's trust in
their government. But ideas matter, and on the Middle East, McCain not
only has little interesting to say but, in his swipe at Obama, a
distinctly ugly way of saying it.
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Richard Cohen's e-mail address is cohenr@washpost.com