O McCain You’ve Done It Again

Obama was in South Africa to pay his tribute to, his idol, a man who epitomizes humanity’s goodness and forgiveness. It was during this time world leaders met in harmony to pay their tribute to Mandela and took the opportunity to greet one another. It was also a marvel to watch during the leaders mingling time when the grim faced Raul Castro, Cuban president popped up to face passionate US president Barrack Obama and both leaders, accidental heroes, took the opportunity to shake their hands. 

Later, back in the US, 2008 presidential candidate John McCain who was looking for an excuse to blame, so frantically, a man who defeated him, Barack Obama,  by comparing him to Hitler conciliator for shaking hands with Cuban President Raul Castro at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in South Africa.

But McCain knows better than anyone that diplomacy sometimes means shaking hands with repressive autocrats. Take, for example, former Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi. McCain visited Gadhafi in Tripoli with other lawmakers on a diplomatic mission in 2009 for an interesting hangout he described on Twitter.

 

It is so blindingly obvious that John McCain remains bitter and unreconciled for his election defeat Obama. He still holds grudges for his election loss and walking around with his wound carrying the splinter in his hand waiting for the moment to throw it back to the man who he called ’that one’. “O McCain you’ve done it again”!

 

McCain needs to learn from Nelson Mandela who has been hailed as ‘the last great liberator’, who warned leaders, “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner”.

 

“…The primary significance of Mandela and King was not their willingness to lock arms or hold hands with their enemies. It was their unshakable resolve to do whatever was necessary to bring those enemies to their knees. . . . “- Richard Price

Barack Obama gave his most illuminating and enchanting eulogy to the South African people for a man who thought us how to deal with our enemies, preserve democracy and the rule of law.

 

He told the world leaders and others in charge of responsibilities, “And so we, too, must act on behalf of justice.  We, too, must act on behalf of peace.  There are too many people who happily embrace Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality.  There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people.  And there are too many of us on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices must be heard”.

 

Former US presidents and other countries’ leaders present at the tribute stadium astounded and had a stern look on their faces. Then, he continued telling the rapturous crowd, “The questions we face today -- how to promote equality and justice; how to uphold freedom and human rights; how to end conflict and sectarian war -- these things do not have easy answers.  But there were no easy answers in front of that child born in World War I.  Nelson Mandela reminds us that it always seems impossible until it is done”.

 

Then, instead of using one of his own ‘yes we can’ truism, He reminded everyone to cherish Madiba’s mantra for life: “I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination.  I’ve cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.  It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.  But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”