Senator John McCain touts his military prowess but seems to suffer from the same leadership malady that plagues many armchair generals in this nation. As a segue from another article I wrote that will appear in my book "Faith of Our Fathers", I recommend a modus opporendi for Senator McCain from the battle of Gettysburg.
Thanks in part to the squabbling between Stalinists in the Democrat primary, Senator McCain maintains the moral high ground among the residual putative candidates. He tells us that he intends to run an honorable campaign and not involve himself in risky negative attacks. In essense, he tells us he wants to lose.
When General Buford arrived in Gettysburg PA and found the advance guard of Heath's Division of AP Hill's Corps moving blind in enemy territory, he quickly determined a plan of action to secure for his fellows still eight miles away a reasonable chance at the high ground. He put his brigade into array (2500 men) against Ewell, Heath, and Pettigrew (almost 10000 men) and held the main pike into Gettysburg until Reynolds arrived with advance elements of the US I Corps. Sacrificing their divisions, and ultimately their lives, these two Union Generals gave Meade a chance to take the heights to the southeast of the theological seminary and gave their army the advantage.
Meade however decided to sit pretty in his position of relative strength, and if not for the unwise decision of Lee to fight anyway against Longstreet's advice, thus began the bloodiest day in American military history. In successive military blunders, Lee ordered John Bell Hood into Devil's Den (pictured) and George Edward Pickett up Cemetary Ridge (man those names sound ominously doldrom) against the entrenched Union forces. Both of these positions were strategic for both sides. For the Union, they were positions of great strength. For the Confederacy they offered the only chances to flank the Union and gain the advantage denied them by Buford/Reynolds the previous day.
In the end, the hero of the day, and the man from whom it behooves Senator McCain to take stock is Colonel Joshua William Chamberlain of the 20th Maine who held the extreme Southwest flank atop Little Round Top. Having been placed their by acting Corps commander Colonel Alexander (after Meade's promotion that week), just an hour or so before the Confederates breached Devil's Den, he quickly ran out of ammo and options after refusing his line to prevent a Confederate flanking maneuver by the 3rd Alabama.
Seeing no other choice, he ordered a bayonet charge noting that "this is good ground, good sloping ground...the Reb's have gotta be tired...we'll have the advantage sweeping downhill." He took hundreds of surprised and exhausted prisoners and stopped Hood's advance then and there, later becoming the first recipient of the Medal of Honor.
The previous day, Colonel Chamberlain had given his men, and some deserters from the 2nd Maine, a stirring speech about the reasons for which they fought. His sentiments are the American ideal, that America exists to set men free. His words, and the steadfastness of his officers, in particular Captain Ellis Spear, inspired his men to stand their ground despite being at half regimental strength against an unrelenting attack on their position. Despite heavy casualties, his men held their ground and found by his rousing vigorous cantor strength that drove them in the words of a lieutenant to pursue the Confederates "all the way to Richmond".
Senator McCain, when you occupy the High Ground, a position of strength, you must use it. The stalinists are going to throw everything at you, and eventually you'll run out of ammo with which to pelt them from a position of relative safety. I adjure you to listen to Mark Levin, who on his radio show on 17 January 2008 gave the following advice: every campaign needs two messages. First, you need a positive message that inspires and uplifts. Then, you need a pointed "negative" message that clearly delineates the deficits of your enemies and allows you to gain the advantage.
If Senator McCain wants to go "all the way to Richmond" and win the victory, he must inspire his men and dissuade his opponents. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone, it is to the vigilant, the active the brave.
This election is McCain's to lose. If he keeps in the way he is in, he will go down to disastrous defeat despite having started the day in a position of strength. Will Senators Clinton or Obama succeed where General Robert Lee failed? Time will tell.
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