There are already ads featuring Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on the air in Michigan through an independent Republican group. But as McCain's numbers seem to slip, it's easy to wonder whether he will employ the only thing that has really slowed Obama down this year. In the past, McCain said Wright wouldn't be a part of the election, and much has been made of his thoughts regarding honor. Jonathan Chait had an interesting take on McCain and honor last week:
The pattern here is perfectly clear. McCain has contempt for anybody who stands between him and the presidency. McCain views himself as the ultimate patriot. He loves his country so much that he cannot let it fall into the hands of an unworthy rival. (They all turn out to be unworthy.) Viewed in this way, doing whatever it takes to win is not an act of selfishness but an act of patriotism. McCain tells lies every day and authorizes lying on his behalf, and he probably knows it. But I would guess--and, again, guessing is all we can do--that in his mind he is acting honorably. As he might put it, there is a bigger truth out there.
Honor is a romanticized concept. It is essentially a moral code governing the just use of force, in which the greatest sin is not defeat but submission. Honor holds that the weak must be protected, but paradoxically the dishonorable are also weak (which is why they have to be dishonorable) so honor itself is something of a paradox, since honor justifies force against the dishonorable. What honor really does is say when certain levels of force are appropriate under what circumstances. In politics, it refers to what lengths one will go to defeat one's opponent.
Chait has already pointed out that McCain does not respect Obama, that he sees him as unworthy. We all saw this contempt on display during the debate, when McCain would not even look Obama in the eye. While defeat by an equal is not dishonorable, defeat by a lesser is. Viewed in this light, I believe McCain will eventually see not using Wright against Obama as a kind of submission. Given that the country is at stake, as Chait describes above, and that McCain himself has a heroism complex in which he believes himself the only one capable of "saving" the country. That's why I think McCain will eventually employ Wright as a weapon against Obama, given that not only doing so is a form of submission towards an unworthy opponent, but an inexcusable one given that he sees the fate of the nation as being at stake.
--A. Serwer
