During an interview with Arizona radio station KFYI on Thursday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called President Obama ‘the most naive president in history’ and criticized both the President and Secretary of State John Kerry regarding their comments on the unrest in Ukraine. Essentially, it appears that McCain wants the Obama Administration to threaten to use force against Russia and Putin if they intervene in the civil unrest there. He also wants the President to commit to sanctions on Ukraine.
“This is the most naive president in history. The naiveté of Barack Obama and [Secretary of State] John Kerry is stunning…This thing could spiral out of control into a major international crisis. The first thing we need to do is impose sanctions against people in leadership positions, including the oligarchs who control this collapsed economy…Putin believes Ukraine is an integral part of Russia. He will not go quietly into the night about when Ukraine moves into the European orbit, so to say.”
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This is standard operating procedure for McCain. Anytime there is anything going on in another country where he gets a sniff of possible military action, he immediately criticizes the President and calls for action to be taken right away. It doesn’t matter what the President’s reaction is or the statement he makes, McCain will automatically call out Obama and say he is wrong. Typically, he’ll make sure to show him absolutely no respect.
Part of this, of course, is based on McCain’s worldview. He is as hawkish as it comes. He is all for military intervention whenever he sees any slight skirmish anywhere in the world. His solution to any international situation is send in the troops. For him, neverending war is a wet dream. He has never met a military action he didn’t love.
However, the other side of the coin here is that McCain is still very, very bitter about the 2008 election. He still feels like he was denied his opportunity to be president. It was his time, and this young interloper came in and took it away from him. So, since he is still in the Senate, he is going to take every chance he can to criticize the President and show him as much disrespect as possible. He’ll make sure to get on the Sunday shows every week and blather on about how bad Obama is.
The American public should be thankful everyday that McCain was not elected in 2008. His extreme pro-war stance would have led to America getting involved in even more military actions around the world. With him as Commander-In-Chief, it is likely that we’d be engaged in a full-on war in the Middle East, with Syria and Iran involved. The Cold War would have also likely have been reignited due to his decision making.
America made the right decision not electing McCain/Palin in 2008. Of course, that isn’t going to stop McCain from being a bitter, angry old man railing against the President every chance he gets. But at least he doesn’t have his finger on the button. And that is a VERY good thing.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
