"That is McCain's problem: the Iraq War is too deeply personal to him. He also has had a son serving, but I mean something else. I mean that McCain confuses his personal ethic of past military service with future policy . . .
McCain seems ready to sacrifice the American future to his sense of past personal honor. Why else would he be refusing to admit his mistake of supporting the Bush fiasco? As an afterthought McCain talks about policy, about not making things worse in the future by pulling out of Iraq "too soon," about how he was an early critic of how the war was conducted, etc. But the real McCain heartbeat is his sense of military honor.
Honor is what makes the military tick. In the military context that code is precisely what the military needs most. But military honor doesn't translate into the messy nuance of civilian life let alone policy."
It's a sad but unfortunate reality. Being guided by a strong sense of personal honor is a good thing, even a noble thing. It's particularly important in very fluid and chaotic situations, where the normal rules of behavior are fuzzy. That's one reason it's crucial in the military. It's also crucial in an environment in which individuals are deeply reliant on each other for survival, like warfare. If you can trust the guy next to you with your life, you both have a much better chance of surviving. But that is also a tactical, personal issue, while the conduct of the war is a strategic and political one.
Making this argument in the general election will be an extraordinary challenge for the Democratic candidate. One reason I am optimistic about Obama in this respect is that I think he can make the point with the requisite decency and grace, and I'm not sure that Hillary can.
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