Fundamental Differences

When I learned this morning that Barack Obama’s grandmother was gravely ill, and that he was going to leave the campaign for a few days to visit her in Hawaii, I had this immediate visceral response. I have heard him talk about how she raised him, how she had instilled in him the values that he has today. That he would leave the campaign at this point to be with her really touched me. And it humanized this human being that I’ve only seen on my television. I had the same sort of response when Joe Biden took a few days off when his mother-in-law died.

And I’m wondering, if John McCain were in a similar circumstance, what he would do. I’ve read accounts of his life with Cindy McCain, and how she suffered through so many personal disasters while he stayed behind in Washington. Miscarriages, her painkiller addiction, even a stroke – all without him by her side. I don’t know what was going on in Washington at the time that was so vital that he couldn’t hop on a plane to be with his wife – or maybe, she was so accustomed to being a Navy spouse that she just kept everything to herself and didn’t tell him. But if I had an extremely important job that kept me a country away from my spouse, and if he was going through a personal disaster, I’d be on the next plane.

But that’s just me.

Perhaps it’s just a difference in culture – the stiff-upper-lipped Navy Wife perhaps has a harder life, and has to fend for herself in times of distress. I don’t want to speak out of turn because I really don’t know what goes on in the McCain’s marriage, and it’s not my business to know.

I just know what I felt when I heard Obama’s announcement earlier this morning. And I hope this dispels anybody’s arguments that he is dispassionate. And lets people know that you can run for president and still be human.