The Doctrine: Help Me Name It

The highlight of the Bush presidency occurred some time ago when he was asked (I forget by whom) what mistakes he had made as president and he said that he couldn't think of any. There has been a series of actions and reactions in the past six months which allow me to conclude that McCain will run his potential presidency based on this same fundamental principle that Bush has done so well with these past eights years. Excuse me, I had to hold my nose as I wrote the last seven words of the previous sentence. This fundamental principle is all-encompassing and ever-present in anything that is said and done by the candidate and his veep selection. Here goes; It is simple and direct. Never, Never, Never admit that you have been wrong, could be wrong or are wrong about any thought or action you have every taken in your life. I need to give only one example to characterize this tendency in McCain. Consider his most recent pronouncement regarding meeting with the prime minister of Spain that he discussed during a radio interview with a Hispanic station in Florida. The interviewer asked him if he would meeting with the Spanish leader. Anybody who listened to the broadcast could easily determine that McCain's response occurred simply because he misunderstood the question; pure and simple. He believed that the question concerned a leader in South America and answered the question in that context. Fine, no problem except that when he was criticized for not knowing that Spain wasn't in our hemisphere, he couldn't take the honest route and acknowledge his misunderstanding of the question. Instead, he confabulated a response right out of the Rovian-Bushian-Palian handbook of lies and deceits that would suggest that he didn't misunderstand the question and that he consciously meant to discuss a potential meeting with the Spaniard. Of course, this is a small point, but what it portends is what we have already seen, felt, experienced and suffered from these last eight years. It is false pride; one of the seven deadly sins and the guiding force of the last eight years of the current administration.

Because it appears from the latest polls on the impact of race on the presidential campaign that our enlightened electorate is going to give us McCain and Palin as our leaders for the next four years, I think it is appropriate at this time to formally recognize this doctrine and principle by giving it a name. There are several possibilities. The first that comes to mind is the Bush Doctrine, but that is already taken. Just ask Sarah Palin. The next is the McCain-Bush Doctrine. Nah, that sounds too ordinary. Let's try McSame. Bush shouldn't get all the credit and we won't want future candidates confused. All kinds of word play could be spun around the doctrine so named. By the end of the next four years, we could refer to the era as more of the McSame and everybody by then hopefully would understand what we're talking about. Personally I prefer the McPain Doctrine. It would be easy for students to remember and it would most closely resemble what we have in store for us the next four years.