The Wanabe War President

By Cernig

Robert Scheer at the HuffPo really does nail it. The true "empty suit" in the 'o8 presidential race is John McCain.

McCain can win only as a war president. He neither knows nor cares much about the economic meltdown, which is the consequence of the deregulation mania that he has supported at every turn during his career in the Senate. If McCain had to run on his economic policy record in the Senate, he might be a loser even in his home state of Arizona, whose residents are suffering mightily from economic disarray presided over by the Republicans. Better to dwell on the dubious success of the surge in Iraq than on the surge in home mortgage foreclosures and the price of gasoline that has crippled Arizona's and the nation's economy. Still better to change the subject to the Russians and Georgia rather than dwell overly long on the disaster of Iraq, which has cost our nation trillions of dollars and where the prime minister now is far more zealous than Barack Obama in calling for an early withdrawal of U.S. troops. But whatever McCain's problems from cheerleading for Bush's war, they pale in comparison to his vulnerability on the most pressing domestic issues.

It's because he's an empty suit that he's so gung-ho. It's a distraction from the fact that he exemplifies the Ugly American in his arrogance and ignorance, both on foreign and domestic issues. I've a guest post today at The Art Of The Possible, a blog on the entersection between libertarianism and liberalism, which explores McCain's inner Ugly American and that of those around him.