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How has he managed this? Because even as they hand out pictures of him in his flight suit, in a brochure that begins, "John McCain is an American hero," even as many in the crowd arrive with a copy of his best seller, he has been able to talk about his experience in a way that sounds humble--anyone in his position would have done the same thing, doesn't take a lot of talent to get shot down. And though many in the crowd conclude that he is made of different stuff, the suggestion that he's completely normal somehow lifts them up, lets them share some of that glory. McCain's many critics in Washington watch this and feel sick to their stomach because to them, he is a sanctimonious hypocrite who acts as though he is both personally and politically better and braver than other people, even as he too occasionally flies a corporate jet and takes money from special interests.
But voters listen closely, and if they hear an undercurrent of false modesty or vanity, they will catch it over time. It may be that the reason McCain is able to come across as genuinely humble is that he's not talking to us at all; he's talking to Slew and to his dad. By their standards, he did his duty and did it well, but that was what was expected of him and not something to brag about.
The fighting spirit that served the McCain men so well in combat may not, in contrast, hold its value in politics. McCain writes about a reflex that all three men shared--scrawny kids who moved around a lot, all were quick to pick a fight at the smallest provocation to prove they were tough. All three were rebels with or without a cause, and there are those who have worked with McCain who have come to view him as genetically combative, quick on the draw, as if all the fun in life comes at being forever at war with someone. It's the natural reflex for a professional warrior, but is it the right one for a President?
Lots of politicians before McCain have tried to stir up the electorate with calls to duty and sacrifice, but they didn't have quite the same example to go with it. With McCain, the exact nature of this duty is left to the imagination, and that is one reason so many different folks are drawn to his campaign. It is why veterans break down in tears at his book signings. It is why some independents who stopped caring about politics a long time ago are suddenly reading and watching all they can about the primary contest. It is why those voters who have no particular connection to the military reserve such affection for someone who does. Whether or not they really know what McCain stands for, how he has voted, where he has succeeded and failed along the way, they have an idea of him they don't want to let go of. The crusade is joined from the gut, not the head.