President McCain, fresh from an early graveside visit to the tomb of his fallen comrade, the late George W. Bush Jr., said after the return to the White House: "He was a great guy and a great man and I miss him." Reporters clustered for more insight into the visit, it being the third time McCain's been over to Arlington Cemetery since he took office for the second term, and the second time in a week his big transport limo has crawled through the early dawn hours of a chilly January 2012 over Key Bridge and up through Roslyn to the gates of the Iwo Jima memorial entrance. Arlington really gets plugged up when President McCain shows up for these apparent vigils. It has the press curious what the point is.
McCain says the point is that George Bush was a great man and he finds inspiration sitting by his grave having a kibbitz. Mrs. McCain doesn't think it at all odd, but then she wouldn't because she's totally wrapped up in her projects to improve literacy, replace broken parking meters and add more hot dog salesmen to the downtown park area facing the mall. When it comes to the White House staff, they just say their boss is a deep thinker and this may be his favorite spot of the moment to have a chat with the powers that were.
One can only think that some of the effect of being a prisoner of war during the Viet Nam era weighs heavy on President McCain's shoulders at times. Especially when he has to sit in closed council with the guys who had him locked up and tortured. It's no secret North Viet Nam was a communist held country during the Viet Nam war era. Duh...so there's our poor President sitting at a long polished wood table with new shoes and a nice suit on, having to talk turkey with the likes of fellows responsible for his weird toenails (they never grew back just right), his amazing scar branching on both arms, the fact his forehead goes so far up into his scalp. It's hard to do. McCain says that talking to George Bush on the other side about the car bombing that took the former President's life just when he thought he had the Iraq era behind him gets his mind off the notion that the UN Security Council is a place to get the twitches. He still has a little trouble with his left eyebrow but the new remote is helping.
"You guys gotta cut me some slack," is McCain's favorite response when press get a little too curious about his doings. There was the Inaugural Ball where the President showed up with his daughter on his arm instead of his wife. Curious to know if the McCain's actually even DID have a daughter, the press wanted to know more about her, since it was her first time on the runway. She's a poised and cute 22 year old frosted blonde with very good teeth and a winning smile. Her low cut ball gown and the fact that they left the party early means nothing, said President McCain. "She had some homework to do," he told everyone in the press room at the following day 6 am briefing. He was looking quite rosy himself, without a tie, in a standard issue white long sleeved shirt and black suit pants. "Going to the Cathedral later," he explained, "after some ham and eggs."
How this President's second term in office will proceed considering the above is anyone's guess. Young Ruth Ann McCain, the 22-year old ingenue never before seen in public, is the latest surprise in the Presidency and Mrs. Gore attributes that to the fact that their daughter is a Rhodes Scholar and was actually in Rhodesia looking up some mutant termites during his first term. "She's quite the bonehead, that one," says Mrs. McCain.
For treatment of his lingering POW issues, President McCain says that his best medicine is being able to punch on his pocket keypad whenever he gets shakey. This was most evident during the last election when Barack Obama came back for a second bid on the job he didn't get the first time. "Every time I listened to his speech, I tapped out an SOS in morris code on my pocket keypad," said McCain. "It really helped my anxiety about the possibility of losing the election. And being seventy nine years old worries me some, but not as much as the obstacle of a viable opposition candidate like Mr Obama. I never did learn the sequence to actually shut off his speech making, but I guess that wouldn't have been fair anyway, would it?"
Fair or not, McCain is with us for another four years and if the price of gas is any indication, down to thirty five cents from the top of seventy-five, it looks like he may just be a winner.
