MASON CITY, IOWA — John McCain has gotten himself stuck in an almost inescapable political dilemma. Formerly a keen critic of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq, McCain finds himself lambasted for -- and his presidential ambitions hostage to -- his outspoken defense of the administration's latest Iraq policy shift: the "surge."
In the process, the Republican senator from Arizona has alienated almost everybody. And you know what? He doesn't really care, certainly not enough to begin doubting his decisions.
Rather than run from the issue, McCain, characteristically, has put the war at the center of his campaign. He is scheduled to give what his campaign advertises as a major address reemphasizing that point this afternoon at the Virginia Military Institute.
In that sense, today will not be much different than any other in the campaign. He talks about the war at every stop. He often brings it up unbidden, when voters are asking about immigration or education or any of the other 1,001 issues that concern them. He won't run from it and seems to insist that they not either. He refuses to allow failure as an option.
"I would be derelict if I did not talk to you about the issue that is taking American lives," he said by way of introduction in a recent speech to a room full of Republicans in northern Iowa. "And we're sacrificing so much, so much of America's greatest treasure on behalf of somebody else's freedom. All of us are frustrated, all of us are saddened, all of us are unhappy about what has happened in Iraq. I know that many of you know that many mistakes were made. You know that this war was mismanaged. But the fact is we are where we are."
Getting the dead weight of those mistakes hung around his neck while trying to navigate the open water of a presidential campaign, he said later, "is the ultimate irony."
Then he shrugged.
"First of all, I can't let it worry me," he said. "I can't let it bother me because it's too important. It's a trite phrase, but I'd rather lose the campaign than lose the war. So I recognize what's at stake, but I can't worry about it. The second thing is, how can you really with a straight face walk into a town hall meeting and not talk about the issue that is costing American lives even as we speak?"
He mentioned seeing a news report that morning on the deaths of five American soldiers. "How can I not talk about it?" he asked. "You just have to. Kids are dying."
