McCain blasts Obama for his willingness to talk to hostile leaders.
Quintessential McCain - a man still fighting the Vietnam War, still convinced that carrying a big stick and never talking at all will win the day.
Right!
We're sure setting records now after 8 years of military insanity. The world isn't one bit safer, we've created new enemies, we've crippled our economy and ruined our reputation.
Why not talk? What's too lose? What's to gain?
Let's face it; McCain plays well in the small circle of neo-cons and the whack-'em first gun-owners who love the smell of napalm in the morning - either they never hefted a weapon and are John Wayne-ing themselves into a self-created heroism (by the way, I like John Wayne movies) or they were in combat and are trying to assuage difficult memories by a ramped up "we were wright" attitude that has to be played out again and again in ceaseless conflicts.
Let's talk to everyone ... and a little compromise? Absolutely. Talking with the enemy, and doing so with our Allies, might well have saved the lives of 4000 soldiers and preserved thousands of families torn apart by the stress of repeated deployments while enabling us to divert billions to schools, children and health care.
It's time for a change in strategies, and because I'm a Christian, the reality of "loving the enemy" remains the purpose of life - and by love, Jesus meant doing to them what we would have others would do to us if we were in a similar situation. To love, as Jesus would have it, is to be profoundly ethical, fair and forgiving, always seeking the better way.
The knee-jerk reliance on power is, in fact, the heart of weakness, a weakness that can only weaken us further.
And I'm not talking as an armchair philosopher. History is replete with tragic examples of nations who sought to dominate through intimidation, only to engender the wrath of others while over-extending themselves militarily and financially - a formula for disaster.
We often talk of being a Christian nation - baloney. While the American people often possess a kindness of heart and a global sense of mercy that is genuinely good, the political machinery of our nation, especially in the years following Regan, has been as craven and as self-serving as nations can be. Only the greatest political resolve can keep a nation from tumbling into the darkness of chaos, a resolve we have totally lacked in recent decades. Sadly, we have sold our soul to domination, and tragically, so-called "Christians" have swarmed to the power like moths to a flame, enjoying their White-House influence and swaggering around with Bibles in hand.
Thankfully, their day has passed, and it's time for a new Christian to emerge, a Christian of genuinely "traditional" values like "love the enemy."
The so-called enemy deserves a hearing, and may God grant to us the capacity to listen!
