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November 2, 2008

Country First?

Guest blogger Michael Weiskopf writes:

Watching John Kerry on "Meet the Press" this morning helped to crystallize some thoughts.

Many politicians have had their moment. For Kerry it was the decision to run a timid, centrist campaign four years ago rather than try to energize a base that had come to feel disenfranchised. There was a bold moment in the Kerry campaign and that was when he reached out to John McCain and attempted to persuade him to be his running mate. It is likely that with McCain on the ticket that Kerry would have won and McCain would now be Veep. And, it would have been good for the country and the world at a time of international crises with national security the top concern, we would have had two statesmen that were putting party loyalties aside in order to restore some kind of competence to government. But McCain couldn't bring himself to put "Country First." His personal ambition trumped his sense of duty.

The same can be said about Hillary Clinton. Had she stepped out in 2004 and taken the risk to run against W, then she likely would have won the nomination. Had she done it then, even if unable to beat Bush, she would have earned the right to run again in 2008 and likely would not have faced a serious challenge from Obama or any other candidate this year. She would have been seen as putting the country's well being above her personal ambition. But Hillary too played it safe, preferring to run against an outgoing two-term president and believing that the nomination and the presidency was hers for the taking.

It's pretty easy to make the case that the country and the world would be in better shape if either Kerry or Clinton had won in 2004 or if either had run a principled campaign that galvanized opposition and energized the rudderless Democrats in Congress.

So Obama stepped out with a combination of the courage that Eugene McCarthy showed along with the charisma and energy that Bobby Kennedy showed, and the contrast to Kerry and Clinton is striking. Obama was a young senator with a promising future and he could have played by the rules and waited his turn. Instead he took the risk and jumped the line, knowing that if he lost, any personal, national ambitions he may have harbored would be set back for years if not permanently. He took the risk and ran a different kind of campaign. He took the risk and energized a base of young voters and disenfranchised minorities and in the process truly put "Country First."

Anything is possible, which includes the reality that McCain can still win, that not enough registered voters will turn out on Tuesday, and that the election will be stolen. But what is more likely is that we will see a president elect that has done more to earn the office than any candidate since Lincoln.

Posted by Charles Warner at November 2, 2008 7:25 PM

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