Presidents Day: McCain and
George Washington, the Comeback Kids
Last
summer John McCain was nearly politically dead. Mike Huckabee
was merely Huck-a-who? Now McCain is the front runner, the
comeback kid at age 71. The seesaw of slumping and surging is a
super-duper American story, one that makes us root for underdogs
and cheer for comeback kids. Just ask the first man honored on
Presidents Day. He authored the comeback, sealing the surge
strategy not with thousands of handshakes, but with the courage
to live loudly for liberty.
Washington
, however, was fighting the same enemy our military is fighting
today: tyranny. Absolute tyranny is the core of al Qaeda’s
global jihad. Anyone seeking to oppress people—whether the
method is roadside bombings or crushing essential civil
rights—is guilty of despotism. Terrorism is a conjoined-twin
with tyranny. Destroying despotism requires people who are
willing to live loudly for liberty. Even in one of his darkest
hours,
Washington
understood the enemy was tyranny and refused to give up.
“However,
under a full persuasion of the justice of our cause, I cannot
entertain an Idea, that it will finally sink, tho’ it may
remain for some time under a cloud,”
Washington
continued in that same letter.
The
man who became our nation’s first president then issued his
first of several “surge strategies.” Defense had been his
single strategy since losing
New York
. He chose a new tactic. Switching to offense, Washington
sent 3,000 men over the Delaware River
on the night of December 25. The next morning they attacked the
British outpost at
Trenton
.
Washington
’s artillery commander described the street battle as
Armageddon-like.
“The
hurry, fright and confusion of the enemy was [not] unlike that
which will be when the last trump shall sound,” Henry Knox
wrote.
Washington
’s willingness to invoke a new game plan gave his army the
morale boost they needed. Combining the success of the Delaware
surge with a promise of more pay,
Washington
convinced his men to stay past their contract deadline, long
enough to recruit more soldiers for the next campaign.
Washington
won the Revolutionary War because he was nimble, willing to
shift strategies no matter what. Even when the political process
lumbered, he didn’t give up. The last major battle took place
in 1781, but the peace treaty took more than two years. Twelve
years lapsed between the Revolution’s first shot in 1775 and
the last signature on the U.S. Constitution in 1787. As
Washington
discovered, political pens are slower than military might.
The
ultimate victor in 2008 will need nimbleness and flexibility to
overcome the slightest slump with a final surge. By November,
the winning candidate will have developed an intuitive ear,
discerning when to shift strategies and when to stay the course.
But more importantly, as the United States
battles an evil suicidal enemy, the next president will need
Washington
’s commitment and courage to live loudly for liberty—the
ultimate sure-fire surge strategy.
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