not-so-conventional convention commentary

I started to write this last week.

Before I finished editing, I started listening to what is so overly described as "main stream media" and discovered that just about every comment I was ready to make about the convention goings-on had already become somebody's hackneyed talking point. Last night the left-leaning pundits used the "not-so-conventional" phrase. Hence, I'm not quite the original thinker I thought I was. Or, perhaps there really isn't anything new under the sun.

Suffice to say I liked almost everything I heard last week at the DNC. Highlights included John Kerry's self-deprecating humor in calling McCain out as a "flip-flopper," Bill Clinton's address (once again, the Come-Back Kid), Ted Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, and of course, Obama himself. I've never been a big Hillary fan; but after she called off the roll call (albeit, obviously staged), I even sent small contribution to help with her campaign debt.

Watching the events on CSpan was nice; it enables one to form one's own conclusions, unencumbered by the stellar media pundits. Still, as noted, my judgments were mostly consistent with those on the team I started with.

In a guileless attempt to try to understand the other side, I tuned in to much of the RNC this past week. It was difficult to listen to. Was there anyone at the Democratic event who came across as strident and mean-spirited as the likes of Rudy Guiliani or Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin, to name a few? Partisan? Yes. Intense? Definitely. Zealous? True. But, not belligerent and quarrelsome.

And to go Wesley Clark one further, I posit that having been a POW may be a DIS-qualification for the presidency. How can someone endure that treatment and not come out with a certain amount of revenge and hatred in his psyche? McCain found solace in his love of country and refers frequently to his loyalty to his brothers-in-arms. He is defined and molded by his experience as a soldier...a fighter. His brand of patriotism seems to me to be jingoistic; the "my country right or wrong" kind of affection. That makes sense if your referring to your kids, but it is counter to the values our country was founded on. For McCain, this attitude shows up in his stance that only veterans who have many, many years of military service (like him) deserve top tier benefits, as if a two or three year stint is not really a sacrifice. Or, despite his admission that he "broke" under the pressure of torture -- that is, admitted to the enemy things that he didn't believe in -- he is now supportive of the USA's use of torture. He seems to believe that somehow our torturers are more noble and justified than their torturers. I don't think John McCain is insincere. I just think he is wrong. John McCain still wants to "FIGHT for the American people." I want a president who will LEAD us - not fight for us. I want a president who will find ways not to fight for us. I want a president who is committed to finding common ground; who wants to compete and collaborate, not to dominate.

A fundamental difference between the right and the left is evident in this "Country First" slogan. The McCain (and Bush, Cheney, etc.) position is that the USA has to conquer the world. That's not sustainable. We need a president who understands that leadership is not management. Understanding our differences, domestically or globally, is the only way to resolving them. Barack Obama and most of the Democrats show that they recognize that real improvements come about only when we stop fighting and start looking for solutions that work for all sides. Whether Obama will be able to unshackle himself from the realities of the powers-that-be is yet to be seen. But he starts from a place that at least acknowledges those possibilities.

If I were Queen for a Day, I'd make Chapter 23, "Nately's Old Man," from Joseph Heller's Catch 22 required reading. Nately is an idealistic WW2 GI arguing with a wizened old Italian man who mocks Nately's unabashed belief in America's glory. "You put so much stock in winning wars," the grubby iniquitous old man scoffed. "The real trick lies in losing wars...Italy has been losing wars for centuries, and just see how splendidly we've done nevertheless. France wins wars and is in a continual state of crisis. Germany loses and prospers. Look at our own recent history. Italy won a war in Ethiopia and promptly stumbled into serious trouble. Victory gave us such insane delusions of grandeur that we helped start a world war we hadn't a chance of winning. But now that we are losing again, everything has taken a turn for the better..."

Later in the conversation, Nately declares, "Anything worth living for is worth dying for." To which the old man counters, "And anything worth dying for is worth living for."

There's a lot that's worth living for... in America, Iraq, and every place else around the world. Even Alaska and Arizona.