McCain's Future Tied To Iraq

The Associated Press recently quoted John McCain as having admitted that unless he convinces the people Iraq is succeeding, he may lose the election. In familiar "straight talk" fashion, McCain quickly recanted. Unfortunately for McCain, the cat was already out of the bag. He could spin his comments like a top, but the people heard him loud and clear.

The question still hanging in the air is whether or not his initial assessment of the situation is accurate. I tend to believe it is. America is weary and frustrated over a war that has lingered on for five years. To make matters worse, it was sold to us as a cakewalk, a slam dunk, and a mission already accomplished. Still, we're there, and we are losing more American soldiers, contractors, and Iraqi civilians than we would have ever imagined. The America people are many things, but patient during a time of war they are not. They want it done efficiently, completely, and fast.

McCain has been intimately connected to this war since it began, and he grants as much. Since then he has been one of its most vocal defenders. While he may criticize various interrogation techniques (dare we call it torture?), he has been a "maverick" wishing to "stay the course" with the rest of the neoconservative war hawks.

So will his presidential ambitions go down in the flames of an unpopular occupation? I believe it is probable. Aligning himself with neoconservative architects of the war doesn't help his cause, but birds of a feather tend to flock together.

If he wants to win, and we must presume that he does, then he must appeal to the paleoconservatives and libertarians who have opposed the war from start to present. These swing votes count, and they could potentially come back to haunt him. Such a move wouldn't necessarily require him to abandon his current position in it's entirety. This, too, would be foolhardy on the account of the serious backlash that would occur among his hawkish constituents. But toning down his rhetoric, offering an olive branch to the dissenters, and choosing to surround himself with foreign policy realists rather than warmongering ideologues sure wouldn't hurt him. In fact, it may grant him a comfortable chair in the Oval Office.