"McCain and Obama’s Excellent Adventure" by Dan Schnur, New York Times
There was a time when John McCain and Barack Obama could have gone to Iraq together. There was a time, perhaps back in 2000, when candidate McCain could have made the offer in good faith. There was a time, perhaps back in 2004, when keynote speaker Obama could have accepted. But those two men no longer exist. Here in the present, neither candidate can afford the risk of high-mindedness or statesmanship when the stakes are so high.
When John McCain invited Barack Obama to accompany him to Iraq recently, the hearts of political romantics like me skipped a beat — but only for a moment. The John McCain for whom I worked eight years ago talked frequently of the importance of being part of “a cause greater than our own self-interest.” He had convictions and aspirations toward a better type of politics. The Barack Obama who I watched address the Democratic national convention in 2004 suggested that the distinctions between Red and Blue America were overblown and exaggerated. They both understood how to reach out across partisan and ideological boundaries and had committed themselves to a less bitter and divisive brand of politics.
In their respective heydays, these two men could have stood together as principled foes, with diametrically opposite views on the most important issue of our time, reminding the country and the world that opponents of good faith could rise above partisan politics to agree on support for American troops and the prospects — no matter how distant — of a safe and democratic future for Iraq.
But both candidates have since learned their lessons about the dangers of such atypical political behavior. Mr. McCain joked earlier this year that he would need to read Alan Greenspan’s book to become better informed about the economy. The self-deprecating humor of a maverick and political outsider is not taken nearly as well from a likely presidential nominee, and he has been skewered for that one-liner ever since. Not surprisingly, his comedy routine is a lot safer and more predictable these days.
Mr. Obama wondered out loud last summer if Ronald Reagan’s presidency might have accomplished some important things. After an intra-party smack down in which the rookie senator was derided for daring to say something complimentary about a leader of the other political party, he has retreated to less risky rhetorical ground.
Both are more experienced, more cautious and less exceptional candidates as a result.
In fairness, the pressures are much greater on them in their new roles. For the first several months of the 2000 primary campaign, Mr. McCain scrupulously avoided any criticism of his opponents. It was only after winning in New Hampshire that the primary shifted from being a reformers’ crusade to a contested election, and my former colleagues and I succumbed to negative ads, telephone push-polling and other hallmarks of modern campaigns.
Similarly, Mr. Obama’s message has become much less inspirational and much more confrontational since his loss in the Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania primaries. The candidate who once talked about the need for a new kind of politics is becoming increasingly comfortable practicing the old as tensions heightened along the campaign trail.
It’s not too late for John McCain to recast his invitation with more sincerity and less snarkiness. And there’s still time for Barack Obama to ditch the gotchas and the word-parsing and take Mr. McCain up on his offer.
Touring Iraq with his more experienced opponent would elevate Mr. Obama’s stature in the area in which it is most lacking. Traveling with his more popular foe would allow Mr. McCain to remind an international audience that United States foreign policy would rise beyond partisanship under the next president. And if either candidate or their advisers attempted to politicize the trip, the public and media backlash would be sure and swift.
Once they returned, both candidates and their campaigns would attempt to spin the trip for political benefit. But for a period of days, the two most powerful politicians in the world could send an extraordinary message that the future of the Middle East and the safety of our planet are more important than the television ads and YouTube videos that will dominate the rest of this election season.
Barack Obama should go to Iraq with John McCain. But he won’t, which serves as a useful and disheartening reminder to us of what the demands of a presidential campaign can do to two leaders who once promised to change our nation’s politics for the better.
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