Both Tim and Ezra have weighed in on George Will's column about McCain's worldview and temperament, but what's frightening to me is McCain's tendency to believe himself at the center of pivotal conflicts in which he represents the ultimate good. Will says McCain sees politics as "operatic," but really he sees everything as operatic. After Russia rope-a-doped Georgia, McCain proclaimed that this was "the first major conflict since the Cold War," just weeks after declaring the war in Iraq "the first major conflict since 9/11." That's because the only major conflicts are the ones he can place himself at the center of.
What does this mean? Well it considerably raises the stakes for any international problems, ostensibly the area of McCain's expertise. It means that any quarrel he has necessarily takes the form an epic battle between good and evil, at which point whatever action McCain takes to resolve the conflict, no matter how extreme, is justified. We see this in the campaign. When confronted with his dishonesty, McCain often mutters that "this is a tough campaign," meaning that all's fair in war. And McCain is always at war.
--A. Serwer
