Old Soldiers Never Die . . . .

In his farewell address to congress, Gen. Douglas MacArthur quoted a popular barracks ballad, that "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away . . . ."

After a brilliant command of the Pacific Theater of War in WWII, and subsequently running afoul of President Harry Truman, a feisty MacArthur was relieved of his command. MacArthur wanted to stand up to China, rather than limiting the Korean War; Truman disagreed and fired MacArthur. Unbowed, General MacArthur returned home, and addressed congress including that quote.

In watching the demeanor of Senator McCain last evening, I was reminded of Gen. MacArthur; I believe the two personalities are similar. And by making this comparison, I certainly mean no disrespect to either man.

But on stage, we did see "McNasty" (one of Sen. McCain's boyhood nicknames--see the Rolling Stone article). And frankly, Senator, you scared me. You projected the image of a petulant ideologue whose new campaign slogan recently became "fight!" And there are too many petulant ideologues running countries across the globe--these are men with far less personal discipline than you (and who may not have to answer to a US Congress)--men like Chavez or Ahmadinejad. These are men who weren't paying attention when collaboration was being taught.

Whether or not Truman's decision about Korea was correct is still debated; what is clear, however, is that once that decision had been made, retiring an old soldier was necessary. The post-war era required cool heads (like Jack Kennedy during the Cuban crisis) rather than saber-rattlers. The global game is more like chess than ice-hockey.

Senator Obama stayed cool, even smiling throughout the debate; but we should not confuse demeanor with disinterest. Collaboration and dialogue are the tools of diplomacy; policy making is less about ideology than about practicality. The recent economic downturn shows clearly that not only are our vulnerabilities not all solved militarily, but that a uniform global response may be the only effective solution.

Senator McCain (the soldier) sees the world as clearly divisible into "right/wrong" and "victory/defeat" and "friend/enemy". Senator Obama (the law professor) sees multiple shades of gray. The McCain "America First" slogan tends to present our country as dominant (like an acid); perhaps we need to be more soluble, more catalyst, less acid.

The skill-sets of a soldier may be fundamentally different than those of a statesman; rarely have we seen both in the same leader. We need both viewpoints; but the current administration has tried to manufacture evidence to make all of the gray-seers believe that things were much more black and white than they really were. And we're not ready to be taken down that path again.

And while (in last night's debate) you were quick to point out that you "aren't Bush," (as was stated in another debate) you are also not Jack Kennedy.