Whenever I hear someone say, “we have the best government in the world,” I strive to suppress the seizures the phrase induces. I don’t think we have the best government in the world. Maybe it’s the most entertaining, but certainly not the best.

For those of you smarting with media-driven, self-righteous indignation, mislabeled as “patriotism,” let me briefly remind you that I too have the image of the American flag being raised at Iwo Jima as deeply ingrained into my American psyche as you have in yours. I too have family members who served not just with courage, but with distinction. Both of my grandfathers served during Korea. My great uncle survived three wars (WWII, Korea, Vietnam), escaped the Nazis as a prisoner of war, received 32 medals and two awards from Congress and Nixon, and rose to the rank of full bird colonel in the Air Force.

While men such as these, and victories such as Iwo Jima represent all that is right with America, there is much that is flawed. We’re chasing bin Laden with all the shrewdness of Wile E. Coyote while Medicare and Social Security are projected to disappear by the time we are in our 40s. Then these problems are “addressed” with a carefully crafted photo image.

Our president stands on rubble with a bullhorn even as he fails to get America’s No. 1 Enemy. Cheney warmly shakes hands with Putin in the hopes that that’s the image Americans will see in Time before reading about just how troubling anti-democratization trends in Russia truly are. But it isn’t the glorified images of past challenges, but of the present campaign that worries me.

In a year in which President Bush and his Republican cronies have all but gangbanged the elephant’s chance of keeping the White House, John McCain is doing remarkably well for himself. Despite the rising gas prices, rising costs of milk, eggs and flour, the collapsing housing market, oil reaching $100 per barrel, the outing of a CIA agent, the Dubai ports scandal, the Mark Foley scandal, the Jack Abramoff scandal, the missile defense contractor scandal, corporate fraud rocking the shaky stock market, the declining dollar and 4,000 dead in Iraq, McCain still gives Obama and Clinton a run for their money in the general election.

McCain’s success can be attributed to his popularity among Democrats and Independents. But a deeper reason exists: his image.

Whenever I ask someone what he thinks of McCain, even the most hardcore Democrat feels the need to preface his answer by commenting on McCain’s heroism in Vietnam, almost as an apology for not giving McCain his vote.

It’s evident too when Barack can’t even talk about stem cells or taxes without first declaring McCain “an American hero.” While I am not trying in any way to degrade or detract from what McCain did in Vietnam, I don’t think we the people, the media and his rivals should have to continuously pay homage to his military service. While it is comforting to know that we have a chance to elect a president who has been in battle, we are still voting for a man — not an action figure. And GI John does not, apparently, come equipped with an exit strategy unless you consider 2108 a withdrawal date.