I admit it. I’m one of them. One of those supporters of Obama who would likely vote for McCain if Obama was not the Democratic candidate. And not because of any of the recent fracas. This was true a long time ago. It’s because I just like and respect McCain and his capabilities more than I do Clinton. Hillary Clinton is an intelligent person and she’d probably be OK as president, but McCain would do a better job. And Obama better still.

I was looking for reasons to dislike McCain. This was mainly to argue against my wife’s statement that she would vote for him over Clinton (trying to be contrary). There certainly are some and I disagree with several of his stances on major issues. Probably more than I disagree with Clinton ideas. But I can like someone’s ideas and still not respect them. And vice versa. Hillary Clinton (and her husband who I also refused to vote for) just embodies the kind of win-at-all-cost politics that really nauseates me. Everything she says and does is calculated to move her closer to her goal. Nothing extemporaneous ever comes out of her mouth. Nothing.

Of course, any of these three possibilities would be a massive step up from what we have now, no doubt about it.

Worth a look is McCain’s recent foreign policy speech. Some standard issue stuff no one could disagree with (at least no normal person, I can’t see Cheney making this kind of speech), but a couple of well thought out concepts as well. This in particular:

“One of those responsibilities is to be a good and reliable ally to our fellow democracies. We cannot build an enduring peace based on freedom by ourselves, and we do not want to. We have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new global compact — a League of Democracies — that can harness the vast influence of the more than one hundred democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests.

At the heart of this new compact must be mutual respect and trust. Recall the words of our founders in the Declaration of Independence, that we pay “decent respect to the opinions of mankind.” Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed. We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies. When we believe international action is necessary, whether military, economic, or diplomatic, we will try to persuade our friends that we are right. But we, in return, must be willing to be persuaded by them.”

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