I'm no foreign policy expert. In fact I'm not even a foreign policy novice. I don't know very much about the politics of Spain (although I'm going to Barcelona in a couple of weeks, will that qualify me for VP?). But I'm puzzled by this business of McCain's embarrassing Spanish media interview, where the Senator left his questioner with the distinct impression he had no idea who Spanish president Zapatero was, then later explained through a spokesman that he did of course know who they were talking about, but simply refused to agree to a meeting.
This needs a little unpacking.
Senator McCain's foreign policy advisor Randy Sheunemann had this to say about the interview:
The questioner asked several times about Senator McCain's willingness to meet Zapatero (and ID'd him in the question so there is no doubt Senator McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred). Senator McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview,"
I'm having some difficulty deciding what is most disturbing about that comment.
Let's assume, for sake of argument, that is exactly what happened – question asked, McCain refused to commit to a meeting.
WTF?
The president of Spain, a big country, a European democracy, our NATO ally with 1000 troops in Afghanistan, isn't welcome to visit a hypothetical president McCain? Did John McCain just imply that Spain is right now on our sh*t-list, but if they want to be our friend and "work with us in a cooperative fashion", then maybe they can enjoy the honor of a meeting with president McCain?
Worse still, could one possibly snub them in a more arrogant, condescending way? It's not like he said:
"No, it would be premature to commit to a meeting at the White House while I'm a sitting Senator and candidate for president. Spain is a valued ally, and I appreciate the sacrifices made in Iraq and Afghanistan and other assistance in the transcendental war against Islamic extremism. But it would be presumptuous to announce who I will or will not meet with before I'm elected president, and it would only invite a barrage of questions about other hypothetical meetings. Once elected, I'll come up with a process for determining who I'll meet with, when and why, but until then, no comment."
Am I good or what? Now that's the kind of artful, respectful, diplomatic dodge I would expect from a potential leader of the free world.
But John McCain didn't say anything like that. He went into this generic message about how he would meet with leaders that are our "friends and want to work with us in a cooperative fashion", thereby apparently implying he wouldn't commit to a meeting, without actually saying it. That's curiously oblique for a straight talker.
The worst part about the rebuff isn't that he refused to commit, but that he communicated it so poorly to the interviewer she had absolutely no idea what his intended message was, and deduced that he was just tragically ignorant.
Just a few days earlier, Senator McCain commented, as if it were a bad thing, that "Barack Obama chooses his words very carefully". Here's the deal, Senator, if you are president, or even a candidate for the office, and you get a hankering to deliver a message to a foreign leader through the press or some diplomatic channel, it would be a good idea to choose your words very, very carefully. Because, you see, if you think you said "won't commit to a meeting", and they heard, "this guy is a senile old man that doesn't even know who the hell the president of Spain is", then your message will not likely achieve the intended result.
Now another possibility, even more troubling, is that Senator McCain did not remember that Zapatero is the President of Spain, and was not even able to deduce it after hearing the lead in "lets talk about Spain". If that's the case, it's time for the good Senator to withdraw from the presidential race, forfeit his drivers license, slow down a bit, quietly finish out his term, and retire with dignity.
I don't think that's what happened. I have a very hard time understanding people who talk with foreign accents, and often cannot make out words and names that I am actually very familiar with. And my hearing is pretty good. I'll probably have a harder time when I'm 70. I think John McCain wasn't sure what he heard, and bluffed.
Which brings me to perhaps the most troubling scenario of all. Instead of just admitting he had difficulty understanding the fast talking interviewer, McCain decided to throw Zapatero under the bus, potentially damaging our relationship with Spain whether he wins the election or not. A cold blooded, reckless, political move as blatantly self-serving as picking Governor pitbull for VP.
