Jessica

Vozel

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April 21, 2008

Is John McCain’s Hot Temper a Presidential Quality?

For whatever reason, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain has not, until recently, had a pervasive reputation among the voting public for being hot-tempered – despite accounts of an explosive temper spanning decades.

For example, after he was elected to the Senate for the first time in 1986, McCain spent what should have been a joyous moment screaming until he was red-faced and poking the chest of a young campaign worker who hadn’t set up the lectern tall enough for him. According to Jon Hinz, then-executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, “There were an awful lot of people in the room . . . It wasn’t right.”

By May 2007, even with his presidential hopes rekindled, McCain’s temper had not dissipated.  While defending his amnesty bill on the Senate floor, he screamed “Fuck you!” at Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who opposed the bill.

McCain even acknowledged his anger problems in his 2002 memoir, and at his old high school this month, where he said in a speech there, “As a young man, I would respond aggressively and sometimes irresponsibly to anyone who I perceived to have questioned my sense of honor and self-respect.” Yet he still has a reputation for being a level-headed straight-talker, and even, on the other end of the spectrum, boring. 

Recently, though, McCain has been asked to account for his flare-ups. After a story in Sunday’s Washington Post, which quotes former and current senators who worry about McCain’s temper and his ability to lead with that temper unchecked, McCain was asked to answer to these allegations on This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Rather than acknowledging his “volcanic temper” as the Post piece calls it, McCain equated his tendency for anger with passion. He cares about America, wants what’s best for it, and often, because of this, gets angry when things go awry. What’s so bad about that? 

On the surface, not much. As Barack Obama has shown throughout his campaign, passion is great. It’s convincing, genuine and motivating. But McCain is more than passionate. He’s angry. When passion gives way to anger, irrationality rears its ugly head. And as evidenced by his outburst in 1986, McCain gets angry about more than injustices to America, but also injustices to him personally. Try getting someone with that sort of entitlement to compromise on anything. America neither wants nor needs a hot-headed, impulsive man making decisions regarding war and peace in the world. Nor do we need a man who screams obscenities at his fellow Senators representing America in meetings and peace-talks with foreign leaders. 

While McCain has not faced an extensive amount of scrutiny for his temperament, Hillary Clinton has to constantly field questions about her coldness, her calculation and her steely demeanor. How often I’ve heard this sentiment: “There’s something off about Clinton. She’s just so cold!” And how little I’ve heard this one: “There’s something off about McCain. He’s just so hot-tempered!” More likely, McCain detractors find him flat and uninspiring. 

In fact, I didn’t know about McCain’s propensity for fiery outbursts until this weekend. I had an inclination when I saw him on the Hardball with Chris Matthews roundtable at Villanova University – where, upon being faced with some questions only college kids would posit (such as "Do you classify yourself as a typical white person?" and “Will you have a shot with me after this?”) McCain set his jaw and proceeded to give answers through gritted teeth. But until now, I had read nothing of his outbursts in the past. 

The feminist in me wants to blame McCain’s lack of reputation on gender roles. Women are supposed to be caring, nurturing and warm – not cold and manipulative, hence the backlash against Clinton’s gender-defying demeanor. On the other hand, men are constructed through gender roles as being naturally more hot-tempered, angry and opinionated. McCain, then, is merely exhibiting the traits of the quintessential American male – nothing newsworthy about that.  But the liberal in me wants to blame it on the conservative sound-machine that does whatever it can to define Democratic candidates based on one possibly negative personality trait while simultaneously excusing the flaws of Republicans as being only one part of the whole person.
 

Whatever the reason for this incongruous treatment of presidential candidates, hot-bloodedness and impulsivity are far more dangerous flaws to find in a candidate than cunning and an even-temperance in the first place. Hopefully, in the coming months, McCain will do the media’s job for them and continue to let his anger seep out on the campaign trail. 

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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