McCain misses chance to go out on a high note

There were tears in my eyes listening to President Obama so eloquently announcing the end to Don't Ask Don't Tell just like there were when I listened to President Kennedy's civil rights speech on June 11, 1963, the first time an American President took on the previously taboo subject of racial discrimination, and just like there were when the 1964 and 1965 civil rights acts were signed as a direct legacy of that speech.

Sadly, the only moisture in Senator John McCain's eyes was the residue of sour grapes he ingested over passage of legislation ending Don't Ask Don't Tell. McCain took to the Senate floor and growled that "there will be high fives all over the liberal bastions of America...talking about how great it is".

What Senator McCain doesn't understand, for all his 56 years in governmental service in both the military and the Congress, is that the high fives are emanating from most members of the human race who inexorably seek to improve the human condition through respect for our common humanity, without regard to utterly inconsequential differences.

But wait. the 76 year McCain still has a fresh six year term to serve. Maybe he should consider introducing legislation to end the abomination known as The Defense of Marriage Act (1996), a law more aptly named The Defense of Discrimination toward Gay Americans Act. He could name it The Senator McCain Freedom of Marriage Act designed to legalize gay marriage in all 50 states.

Senator McCain, you still have an opportunity to go out on a high note afterall.

Originally published in the Chicago Sun Times, December 24, 2010