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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| John McCain's house of cards | John McCain's house of cards |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| To any long-time observer of John McCain, his reaction upon being caught playing iPhone poker during Tuesday's Senate hearing on Syria makes total sense. If you'll excuse the mixing of card game references, he doubled-down. "Scandal!" he tweeted with obvious sarcasm: "Caught playing iPhone game at 3+ hour Senate hearing – worst of all I lost!" | To any long-time observer of John McCain, his reaction upon being caught playing iPhone poker during Tuesday's Senate hearing on Syria makes total sense. If you'll excuse the mixing of card game references, he doubled-down. "Scandal!" he tweeted with obvious sarcasm: "Caught playing iPhone game at 3+ hour Senate hearing – worst of all I lost!" |
| McCain is a man of uncomplicated passions and possesses a fierce belief in, shall we say, "having the right enemies". When McCain he sees "bad" people saying what he's doing is wrong, then he must be right, even when it comes to digital time-wasters. His habit of defining himself in opposition applies to criticism from the media (once his "base", now spurned like an ex-lover) and almost completely explains his desire to toss America's lot in with the Syrian rebel forces. He is outraged and frustrated by what he sees as a failure not just of US authority, but of Good (with a capital G; as opposed to Evil with a capital E). | McCain is a man of uncomplicated passions and possesses a fierce belief in, shall we say, "having the right enemies". When McCain he sees "bad" people saying what he's doing is wrong, then he must be right, even when it comes to digital time-wasters. His habit of defining himself in opposition applies to criticism from the media (once his "base", now spurned like an ex-lover) and almost completely explains his desire to toss America's lot in with the Syrian rebel forces. He is outraged and frustrated by what he sees as a failure not just of US authority, but of Good (with a capital G; as opposed to Evil with a capital E). |
| This black-and-white view of the world makes him an uneasy ally for a president who operates completely in shades of gray. | This black-and-white view of the world makes him an uneasy ally for a president who operates completely in shades of gray. |
| Assad's actions "should shock our collective conscience", McCain told reporters in late August, then, unable to resist a shaming dig at Obama: | Assad's actions "should shock our collective conscience", McCain told reporters in late August, then, unable to resist a shaming dig at Obama: |
| That is, whatever conscience remains after more than 100,000 Syrians have been slaughtered while the United States has largely remained on the sidelines. | That is, whatever conscience remains after more than 100,000 Syrians have been slaughtered while the United States has largely remained on the sidelines. |
| If McCain believes "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", it might be because he's not very good at making friends. That Obama has continued to make overtures toward McCain in an effort to rally support for air strikes says more about the uphill battle hawks face than any real détente. | If McCain believes "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", it might be because he's not very good at making friends. That Obama has continued to make overtures toward McCain in an effort to rally support for air strikes says more about the uphill battle hawks face than any real détente. |
| McCain's belief in the righteousness of his proposals is another reason for his lack of embarrassment over PokerGate. Earnest anti-war activists were appropriately appalled by his apparent lack of interest, but, to be fair, McCain can hardly be expected to closely follow a debate about which he has already closed his mind. Smart alecks just mocked him, with deadpan comparisons to Lincoln's many hands of Texas Hold 'Em during the war with Mexico and Obama's incredible streak of wins on Words With Friends. | McCain's belief in the righteousness of his proposals is another reason for his lack of embarrassment over PokerGate. Earnest anti-war activists were appropriately appalled by his apparent lack of interest, but, to be fair, McCain can hardly be expected to closely follow a debate about which he has already closed his mind. Smart alecks just mocked him, with deadpan comparisons to Lincoln's many hands of Texas Hold 'Em during the war with Mexico and Obama's incredible streak of wins on Words With Friends. |
| More to the point, just last month, former White House aide Reggie Love described Obama's characteristically detached response to the excruciating wait for the conclusion of Seal Team Six's Obama bin Laden raid: "We must have played 15 hands, 15 games of spades." | More to the point, just last month, former White House aide Reggie Love described Obama's characteristically detached response to the excruciating wait for the conclusion of Seal Team Six's Obama bin Laden raid: "We must have played 15 hands, 15 games of spades." |
| Yes, there is qualitative difference between nervously awaiting the conclusion of a high-risk but widely supported mission whose outcome is beyond your control and just trying to keep from being bored while John Kerry talks (though, really, who among us … zzzz). The difference in the card games is what is most suggestive to me. McCain goes with poker, a game as straightforward as, well, " war" (the game). The "poker ladder" ranking of hands never varies (aside from aces high or low); two pair beats a single, three of a kind beats a pair, and so it goes, according to the statistical likelihood of each set. You can play with any number of players, and there are no teams – each player goes it alone. What's more, every hand is a fresh start; the odds are reset, the deck made full; if you won the last hand, it's no guarantee that you'll win the next. It's also a highly emotional game; gut feelings are weighed as heavily as the cards on display. And the role of bluffing means one can potentially win based solely on bravado. | |
| I can't think of a better metaphor for McCain's approach to foreign policy. Aside, that is, from his motivations: while I presume McCain plays poker just to win, I do believe, perhaps over-generously, that when it comes to military action, he wants to do the right thing. Then again, in McCain's mind, doing the right thing also means winning. | |
| But McCain will go it alone if necessary, and he seems to think every armed conflict is somehow a new one. How else to explain his apparent refusal to learn from our experience in Iraq? But that may be the card-player's eternal optimism: hope for a better hand next time around. | |
| The spades player sees it differently. The tactics change with each round of bidding, and the choice of a partner is important. Every trick you win or lose determines the odds and the play for the next round of cards. And in spades, the trump card never changes; and there is at least one card that can always win. That's a more reassuring prospect for a commander-in-chief facing a moment of fatal decision than the poker player's exigency of having to fold and losing his stake. | |
| My extended metaphor isn't meant to minimize the gravity of the decisions our representatives will make when it comes to Syria; it's merely suggestive of the contrast between how McCain and Obama play politics. It's also true that, in the end, our president isn't really taking much a chance in the game he's playing with Congress. Thanks to ever-expanding executive power, Obama can ultimately take action with or without McCain, with or without Congress, with or without the American public. | My extended metaphor isn't meant to minimize the gravity of the decisions our representatives will make when it comes to Syria; it's merely suggestive of the contrast between how McCain and Obama play politics. It's also true that, in the end, our president isn't really taking much a chance in the game he's playing with Congress. Thanks to ever-expanding executive power, Obama can ultimately take action with or without McCain, with or without Congress, with or without the American public. |
| In that sense, the White House always wins. If only there were not quite so many who stand to lose. | In that sense, the White House always wins. If only there were not quite so many who stand to lose. |
| • Editor's note: this article was revised for some author's changes at 10am (ET) on 6 September 2013 |