By Elizabeth Sherman , American University School of Public Affairs Arizona Sen. John McCain – scion of Navy brass , flyboy turned Vietnam war hero and tireless defender of American global leadership – now faces terminal brain cancer . I am a scholar of American politics . And I believe that, regardless of his storied biography and personal charm, three powerful trends in American politics thwarted McCain’s lifelong ambition to be president. They were the rise of the Christian right, partisan polarization and declining public support for foreign wars. Republican McCain was a champion of bipartisan legislating , an approach that served him and the Senate well. But as political divides have grown, bipartisanship has fallen out of favor. Most recently, McCain opposed Gina Haspel as CIA director for “her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality” and her role in it. Having survived brutal torture for five years as a prisoner of war, McCain maintained a resolute...
Sorting Through the Debris of Politics and Popular Culture