As an admitted CSPAN addict, I found myself watching James Woolsey speak to a Jewish group in Palm Beach County.  As I caught up with the program, Woolsey was in the Q&A portion of his appearance. 

Mr. Woolsey is asked his opinion of how the various candidates will function in the face of a seminal threat from a nuclear Iran.  He answers that he cannot really speak to how they will react when faced with a decision of that scope.  He then pauses, and almost reluctantly notes an exception.  He makes an exception for John McCain, to illustrate the exception Mr. Woolsey proceeds to tell the following story.

During Mr. Woolsey’s time as Under Secretary of the Navy, it was suggested that a young officer named John McCain might have some political skills appropriate to the department. Than in the context of the fact that his injuries as a POW would probably disqualify him from flying again as a Navy pilot Jim Woolsey agreed to check him out.

Mr. Woolsey went to other former POW’s working in the department and heard the following story.

McCain, whose father was in command of the Pacific Fleet, was moved up the release list by the North Vietnamese.  McCain refused release.  He refused because other prisoners had been there longer and McCain took the position that they should be released first.  McCain refused to sign the release papers and suffered the consequences. 

Every day, the story goes; the North Vietnamese would drag McCain to the room where he was to be tortured in hopes of “motivating” him to sign the release papers.  McCain would fight his captors the entire way to the torture chamber, attempting to connect elbow with groin or foot with knee.  At the end of the day, the same fight would occur on the way back to his cell.  This ritual of torture and “motivation” went on for some time.

Jim Woolsey then paused for a moment in the telling and said,…….. “Until the North Vietnamese finally gave up!”

“Until the North Vietnamese finally gave up”!!!  I knew the general outline of the story but not the way the story was rendered by other POW’s via Mr. Woolsey.  There was also a milieu to the telling that does not translate well into the written word.  Jim Woolsey told the story almost reverently.  The juxtaposition of the horrors of McCain’s experience with a quite, respectful rendering of the story drew the drama of the story to a fine sharp edge.   

I was moved by both the story and the manner of the telling.

The story led me to question my standards for evaluating presidential candidates.  Was it a question of policies,  PR, age, experience or party credentials that would guide my support for a presidential candidate?  Were those issues, in light of our many challenges, what we should be focused on?  Were those issues the path to a political epiphany or was it, should it, be something else: something more basic, more intrinsic? 

This story led me to envisage all of my presidential choices in John McCain’s situation in North Vietnam.  Which of them would have had the courage, discipline, integrity perseverance and leadership qualities to make “the North Vietnamese give up”?

My answer to this question was, none of the above, hence the personal epiphany. 

A president who has looked into the abyss, with his life in jeopardy and still refused to compromise his integrity comes to be more important to me than policy issues.  A president with proof certain, that when faced with crisis refused to sacrifice others for personal benefit and refused to betray his leadership accountabilities will likely make the right decision on policy issues more often than not.

Isn’t, to some large degree, all the rest of what we focus on just easy rhetoric by those who have not looked into the abyss?  Is not the actual story of John McCain all we really need to know about what manner of President he will be?