Putting John McCain on the couch

On the heels of a sweeping assertion about the emotions ruling John McCain -- a claim included in a lengthy Washington Post piece on him -- there came today an equally striking character assessment of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee from none other than Karl Rove.

First, for those who missed it, the recent Post article by Robert Kaiser -- headlined "The Curious Mind of John McCain"-- included a leaps-off-the-page quote from a source identified as a senior official in Bill Clinton's administration who worked with the Arizona senator on the Bosnia and Kosovo crises. Said the official:

"In the many, many years that I've been in Washington, John McCain is far and away the most emotional politician I have ever met. ... McCain is all emotion. People don't understand that, so they keep talking about his temperament, his temper. He reacts emotionally, therefore unpredictably."

Kaiser reported that the official insisted "on anonymity to avoid upsetting McCain" (a none-too-surprising request, based on the source's view of his acquaintance).

Rove's judgment about McCain was part of an opinion piece he wrote for the Wall Street Journal headlined: "What McCain Should Do Next."

After noting that national polls show the presidential contest much closer than it should be expected during these hard times for the GOP (a much-commented upon dynamic of late), Rove walks through some pretty standard prescriptions for McCain, such as "lay out a bold domestic reform program" in the next few weeks.

But then President Bush's one-time political guru adds this: "Then there's character. Mr. McCain is the most private person to run for president since Calvin Coolidge (at left) in the 1920s. He needs to share (or allow others to share) more about him, especially his faith."

One thing about running for president, it can serve as a substitute for seeing a shrink, given how eager others are to offer psychoanalysis (as Barack Obama, he of the alleged "Messiah Complex," can certainly attest).

"Silent" Cal Coolidge, by the way, is the subject of one of our favorite presidential anecdotes.

As recounted by his wife (the much more outgoing and, in her time, much esteemed Grace Goodhue Coolidge), a young woman told the then-president at a social event that she had wagered a companion she could get at least three words out of him.

"You lose," he replied.

Imagine the field day pundits/psychologists would have with this very definition of the taciturn New Englander today.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credits: Associated Press (McCain); file photo (Coolidge)

Comments

[Scootmandubious]

Something tells me it would not cause a tingle to go up Chris Matthews' leg.

[JuneinJanuary]

Oh for goodness' sake! An anonymous Clinton administration official trashing the Republican nominee?? Next you'll be saying he's voting for Obama!

[Michael King]

With all the negatives that McCain has, and they are real and documented, one has to conclude that Obama is NOT competing with McCain - he is competing with any old white guy. Coolidge or even Hoover would get the same numbers.

Race is an obvious factor, but it is just as much a generational and cultural gap. It is fair to say half of America is walking forward and half is walking backward.

How else can one explain the predictable irrationality of supporting a emotional opportunist of shallow capacity whose greatest accomplishment required no active success and occurred over 35 years ago. The real heros of Vietnam are the countless men who died or suffered life-disabling physical and emotional injuries who did their duty and did not support the war intellectually. They are the real heros, and they are not walking backward lusting for a repeat of that insanity.

As a father and gradfather, my prime directive is to see that my sons and their families have at least as good a future as I had and hopefully a better one. I see no concern for that in those who walk backward and that is just wrong, self-centered and greedy. None of which are traditional American values.

It is not the younger generation that needs to reconsider its values. It is the older generation that needs a serious soul search- fellow ancients, grow up - and think of others first before respect for age is baseless.

And where are the fearless media - that much need fourth estate? Methinks participating in the self-centered greed that is the root of today's disasters rather than being the admonishing voice of reason we need to return to greatness.

[Benighse]

Mccain doesn't need a shrink or a couch.....he just needs more naptime during his Arizona retirement after the campaign....

[dave]

people will say they didn't know...
so both candidates scheduled to be appointed nominees, are legally ineligible, are corrupt and deceitful, and have serious psychiatric issues. and incidentally, share a favorite literary hero, in hemingway's novel, 'for whom a bell tolls.' a suicidal, frustrated, cynical character who would blow up bridges in a country he's alien to, at the periphery of a nation he cannot connect with; and who'd die for an invalid cause, not to benefit anyone. the bridge is the symbol of his way to freedom, as the constitution is to america. both illegal candidates would take down america with them, as they hate what they abuse to their profit, and what reflects their own character - america's degeneration into corruption, idolatry and flippant insincerity. they would rather destroy the bridge that leads to freedom, than have to face themselves. it seems they fatalistically feel that destiny alights from, and disaster comes down to, the iniquity of most.
...they might have known.