Sen. John McCain failed in his 2008 bid to become commander in chief, but seven years later the Arizona Republican seizes great influence over the nation’s military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ubiquitous Obama critic assumes the powerful chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee and significant control in shaping the defense budget and national security policies to his hawkish positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For years, he has been a relentless critic of the man who defeated him in his loftiest ambitions, particularly in his national security decisions. But while in the minority party, McCain’s words had only marginal effect. Now, he holds significant fiscal and authoritative powers that he could use to thwart President Obama and assert opposing priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The challenge McCain faces, to be a leader of consequence, is to refrain from making it personal in using those powers and always act in the true best interests of the nation. The nation’s safety in a world consumed by the growing threat of anti-Western movements and terrorism will demand much of his time and energies, as it would anyone in that position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But McCain views America’s security through a different lens because of his experience as a POW during the Vietnam War. With fewer and fewer members of Congress having served in the military, let alone in combat, he knows intimately the ground truth of the potential consequences of decisions made in the marble sanctuary of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He can distinguish himself by always rising above party interests and partisan warfare to fully act in the interests of troops and their families in all decisions, from commitment of combat forces to pay and benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McCain could be the best advocate the troops have had in Washington in many generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sen. John McCain assumes the powerful chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee and significant control in shaping the defense budget and national security policies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":64517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":14,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1824],"class_list":["post-33328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"7SXATLE4TNEYJIMMNMLMSLQK3A","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/2015\/01\/23\/editorial-power-and-responsibility\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n