John McCain Wins South Carolina

John McCain wins South Carolina. I wonder what the world would look like if that headline could have been written 8 years ago? Would we have avoided the nosedive this country has taken since then? Could he have spent all that capital 9/11 afforded us in a more inspiring and unifying way? I don't know. I remember, shortly after 9/11, seeing our Commander-in-Chief cry in the Oval Office and being ashamed. Seeing him stand on rubble at the WTC, with a megaphone, crying for vengeance, and being ashamed. Seeing him swagger and posture like an Ivy League draft-dodger trying to be a cowboy, and being ashamed. At the time, I felt enormously guilty for harboring such feelings, that somehow how I was being unpatriotic, and in doing so I played right into his hands. I wish I hadn't been vindicated, that Bush would have overcome the understandable emotion and anger he felt and risen to the call of a nation in crisis, like Lincoln and FDR - shown a steady hand, a deft command of diplomacy and might, and a moral certitude that would have illustrated to the world that we are in a position to lead. He failed miserably. I hope McCain gets an opportunity to fix it.

I also went to the local Nevada Caucus today, at the Wynn. I will withhold commentary until I taken a lengthy shower, but Hillary's remark that "This is how the West was won" must have made John Ford shudder in his grave.