Jimmy Carter graduated with distinction in the USNA Class of 1946 and never lost a submarine. He was a highly competent sailor. So no harm in giving the Anchormen a try. Like the West Point Goats, the graduates at the tail end of USNA classes tend to make up in imagination, daring and initiative what they may lack in book-learning. And while we are being “so darn nice” we might remember that you don’t lose your aircraft by staying out of harm’s way. John McCain was rewarded for losing one of them with an all expense paid vacation in the Hanoi Hilton. I think the son of the admiral who was Commander in Chief Pacific could have found a way to avoid getting in all that trouble with some cushy job somewhere in the fleet if he was that kind of guy. But he proved his mettle, before, during and after his captivity. The reason his opponents won’t bring up his service record in a debate has nothing to do with them being nice, it is because they are not that foolish. There is no part of the definition of American hero that does not apply to John McCain. I think that augurs better for strong and decisive leadership that the clarion call of “competence,” whatever that is.