{"id":1410,"date":"2008-08-22T09:08:15","date_gmt":"2008-08-22T14:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=1410"},"modified":"2008-08-22T09:18:08","modified_gmt":"2008-08-22T14:18:08","slug":"the-courage-to-divorce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=1410","title":{"rendered":"The courage to divorce"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m a former McCainiac from 2000 and a current Obamacon. I like John McCain and will not be crushed if he becomes our next President. However, because of my current enthusiasm for Obama, which has settled down a bit lately, I&#8217;ve been more willing to cast a skeptical eye towards McCain. This is human nature. We all want to validate our prejudices. This morning <a href=\"http:\/\/marriage.about.com\/od\/politics\/p\/johnmccain.htm\">a few random mouse clicks <\/a>led me to an aspect of McCain&#8217;s self image that has gone unremarked on. <\/p>\n<p>In his recent Saddleback Church interview John McCain was asked what his greatest failing had been and he instantly said it was his 1979 divorce. It took place a few years after his return from Vietnam. His wife, now an ex, had been injured and disfigured in a traffic accident while McCain was a prisoner of war. He evidently lost interest in her very quickly upon his return. <\/p>\n<p>I agree with McCain. This divorce is a blot on his reputation but more troubling to me is his comment about it in one of his many autobiographies. He puts his divorce in a very different light than he did at Saddleback. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Today, in our excessively psychoanalyzed society, sharing one&#8217;s secret fears with others takes courage. So does escaping a failing marriage.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>      *Source: John McCain and Marshall Salter, Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life, page 14.<\/p>\n<p>So, according to McCain, while his divorce was his greatest failing it was also a sign of his courage. Yes, he abandoned his injured wife and children to marry a rich, young, woman who has made it much easier for him to realize his early political ambitions. That analysis is right up there with the Cowardly Lion&#8217;s explanation of the word. &#8220;Courage. It puts the ape in apricot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Loyalty to one&#8217;s nation is admirable and John McCain, like the 600 or so other survivors of the Hanoi Hilton, has it in spades. But another oath: &#8220;for better, for worse, for richer for poorer; in sickness and in health&#8221; took a back seat to his vanity and ambition. I&#8217;ll keep this in mind every time one of his ads pop up and impugns Barack Obama for being an arugula loving, media darling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m a former McCainiac from 2000 and a current Obamacon. I like John McCain and will not be crushed if he becomes our next&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}