Last week’s “Service to America” Tour took presumptive Republican Presidential nominee John McCain to the definitional places of his life – Meridian, Mississippi, Arlington, Virginia, the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, Jacksonville, Florida, and the place of John McCain’s political baptism, Prescott, Arizona.  His lieutenants colloquially called it the ‘Biography Tour’. His detractors called it a desperate cry for attention amid the continued Democratic infighting.  But it was, at its most fundamental, a reiteration of the central tenet that is John McCain: a commitment to national service that flies in the face of the generation’s popular culture.

While liberal radio host Ed Shultz labeled Sen. McCain a “warmonger” in an introduction of Senator Obama on Saturday, McCain stood on the Yavapai County Courthouse steps in Prescott, Arizona, to praise bipartisanship and commitment to duty, regardless of the popular culture.  “Let us exercise our responsibilities as free people. But let us remember, we are not enemies. We are compatriots defending ourselves from a real enemy. We have nothing to fear from each other. We are arguing over the means to better secure our freedom, promote the general welfare, and defend our ideals. It should remain an argument among friends; each of us struggling to hear our conscience, heed its demands; each of us, despite our differences, united in our great cause, and respectful of the goodness in each other” (Remarks by John McCain During “Service to America” Tour Event in Prescott, Arizona, Saturday, April 5th, 2008).  It is vintage McCain – dogged in his dedication to principle while “popular culture” opinions manifest themselves, like in the form of Shultz.

Most surprising was the non-reaction of Senator Barack Obama, whose juggernaut seems to be ever-so-slightly edging toward the Democratic nomination.  For a man who so often pays lip service to the high ideals touted by McCain, Obama’s lack of condemnation showed what truly was a new kind of audacity - what some will call the audacity of hypocrisy, if you will. 

John McCain has lived his life in defiance of the popular culture of his generation. While his peers staged sit-ins and marched on Washington, McCain flew combat missions over Vietnam. Back home, the Sexual Revolution, Woodstock, and 1968 made their marks on American history while John McCain endured the torture and hardship of the “Hanoi Hilton”.  While many in the Republican Party went with George W. Bush in 2000, it was McCain who stood up in opposition.  Indeed, only when he truly bent to popular opinion, on the South Carolina/Confederate Flag issue, did his electoral success fade.  Many Americans have tired of the shrill voices in politics - and as he has always been, McCain seems ready to stand in defiance to them.