The McCain Story

From William Katz at his blog site "Urgent Agenda" we get this short summation from an article that Karl Rove recently wrote.

Karl Rove, one of the best political minds in the business, has a remarkable column in today's Wall Street Journal. It may seem familiar to some, but much of it was new to me. Rove argues that John McCain must open up, become less private, this year if he is to win in November. He tells some of McCain's stories, stories McCain is reluctant to tell himself. What strikes me is the difference in lives lived between McCain and Obama. It is Obama who is the child of privilege, yet we're told he has a "great story." No he doesn't. It's McCain who has the great story, and has lived real hardship. Rove writes:

When it comes to choosing a president, the American people want to know more about a candidate than policy positions. They want to know about character, the values ingrained in his heart. For Mr. McCain, that means they will want to know more about him personally than he has been willing to reveal.
And...

For example, in 1991 Cindy McCain was visiting Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh when a dying infant was thrust into her hands. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save her life, so Mrs. McCain brought the child home to America with her. She was met at the airport by her husband, who asked what all this was about.
Mrs. McCain replied that the child desperately needed surgery and years of rehabilitation. "I hope she can stay with us," she told her husband. Mr. McCain agreed. Today that child is their teenage daughter Bridget.

I was aware of this story. What I did not know, and what I learned from Doris, is that there was a second infant Mrs. McCain brought back. She ended up being adopted by a young McCain aide and his wife.
"We were called at midnight by Cindy," Wes Gullett remembers, and "five days later we met our new daughter Nicki at the L.A. airport wearing the only clothing Cindy could find on the trip back, a 7-Up T-shirt she bought in the Bangkok airport." Today, Nicki is a high school sophomore. Mr. Gullett told me, "I never saw a hospital bill" for her care.

Rove concludes:

Americans need to know about his vision for the nation's future, especially his policy positions and domestic reforms. They also need to learn about the moments in his life that shaped him. Mr. McCain cannot make this a biography-only campaign – but he can't afford to make it a biography-free campaign either. Unless he opens up more, many voters will never know the experiences of his life that show his character, integrity and essential decency.
These qualities mattered in America's first president and will matter as Americans decide on their 44th president.

That's good advice, especially as Mr. McCain's likely opponent will be presented to the American people by the mainstream media as a gift from Providence, and maybe Providence itself.