Aug 19, 2008

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Russia invades Georgia and President Bush goes on vacation. Our president has spent one-third of his entire two terms in office either at Camp David, Maryland, or at Crawford, Texas, on vacation. His time away from the Oval Office included the month leading up to 9/11, when there were signs Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, and the time Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans.Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California.I think he made a big mistake. When he was invited last spring to attend a discussion of the role of faith in his life with Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, McCain didn't bother to show up. Now I know why.It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries. McCain then retold a story we've all heard a hundred times about a guard in Vietnam drawing a cross in the sand. (Actually, this was a scene from the movie Ben Hur - A total ripoff by Mccain; since there is absolutely NO way to verify this story. He's no Reagan, for sure.)Asked about his greatest moral failure, he cited his first marriage, which ended in divorce. While saying it was his greatest moral failing, he offered nothing in the way of explanation. Why not? (If he cheated on his first wife when she was disabled, how do we know he won't cheat on the disabled American economy?) Throughout the evening, McCain chose to recite portions of his stump speech as answers to the questions he was being asked. Why? He has lived 71 years. Surely he has some thoughts on what it all means that go beyond canned answers culled from the same speech he delivers every day. (Unfortunately, McCain seems to think the American people are as shallow as he is. He seems to assume these superficial answers OUGHT to suffice. Are we superficial? Do we want more depth in our leaders?)He was asked "if evil exists." His response was to repeat for the umpteenth time that Osama bin Laden is a bad man and he will pursue him to "the gates of hell." That was it. (Not everything is hinged on Bin Laden. If we had wanted to get bin Laden - don't you think we would have by now? There's a payoff in NOT capturing bin Laden. Think about it. Ask yourself honestly WHO benefits from bin Laden's freedom?)He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich.(I'm sorry - how many of us has 5 mil?)One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none.Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time? Where are his position papers setting forth his careful consideration of foreign policy, the welfare state, education, America's moral responsibility in the world, etc., etc., etc.?John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. (Nepatism at it's best - which is just how our current president got his start. His daddy had to go to Reagan and ask - read beg - for a post for his son in Reagan's cabinet. Read Reagan's diary entry re: Bush's loser son, our 43rd president.)His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet. (So, now we know why McCain appears as shallow as he does - there is absolutely nothing going on in his brain. More importantly, do we REALLY WANT ANOTHER INNTELECTUAL DUD FOR A PRESIDENT????????? How has that worked for us over the past 8 years?)He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly. (Again, this points towards a definitive lack of intellect.)I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. (Finally!!! The Emporer really has no clothes - he just doesn't know it. How embarrassing!!! Dude is out in the world thinking he has on his finest; in reality he's buck naked and doesn't know the difference.)The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul. (Like Putin cares one whit what the world thinks of him or his soul - we saw that months ago in his photo expose - Putin fishing, Putin the 'iron man' flexing his overweight muscles. At least Bush doesn't compare himself to Arnold (I'll be back).)George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself. ( Narcissists usually are, eh?)He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him. ( Me, too, and thank GOD McCafferty has the balls to speak out.)Finally - the definition of insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, the same way; yet expecting different results.