At what has John McCain excelled?  In what has he shown proficiency?  He was a bad student, finishing fifth from the bottom at the Naval Academy.  Just like George Bush, a barely passing mark can be construed as an homage to a powerful father.  Rather than failing the inadequate party boy student outright, he was barely passed in deference to his father, the Admiral.

John McCain was a bad pilot and wrecked several expensive jets before being shot down in only his 20th hour of combat duty.

John McCain was not a good P.O.W.  He broke immediately, and a made several dozen propaganda films for the North Vietnamese.

John McCain was a bad husband.  He played around his wife frequently and carried on an affair with Cindy McCain for months before telling his wife that he wanted a divorce.

John McCain was a bad politician, getting embroiled in a shady Savings and Loan scandal right from the start of his political career.

John McCain has been a bad “Maverick”.  He has adopted every Bush policy that he previously condemned.  From Right Wing “agents of intolerance” to torture to Bush’s tax cuts, those things that the earlier Maverick McCain stood firmly against, he now sheepishly endorsed.

John McCain has been a bad Presidential candidate.  He has talked about countries that do not exist, described borders that do not exist, failed to understand the difference between Shia and Sunni, failed to understand the difference between Shi’ite Iran and Sunni-based Al Qaeda.

McCain has forgotten and jumbled so many things that his own campaign says that McCain does not speak for the McCain campaign, and have limited his contact with the press.  His campaign has even limited John McCain’s cell phone use, as he tends to parrot the ideas of the last person he talked to, rather than the talking points he had been briefed on earlier.

The real questions is, where would McCain be without Lindsay Graham, Joe Lieberman, and Cindy McCain to stand at his side, guide him around by the arm, and make suggestions as to how questions should be answered in front of the media?

An even bigger question is, if McCain were elected President, who would serve as the real Commander-in-Chief?  Just like with George W. Bush, who has taken over two years of vacation time since he took office, John McCain would only be a figure-head for the real power behind the Presidential Seal.

Vacations and trips abroad would be expected to be regular fare for McCain, while the “acting President of the United States”, stayed behind to get the real work done, as Cheney has done every time he sends George W. Bush off on another Crawford vacation or fund-raising junket.

We need to elect someone that would actually serve as President of the United States, not a figure-head.  No matter how you look at it, John McCain is unfit to lead.