Coming Home

On Sept. 10 I went on CNN to discuss Gen. Petraeus's congressional testimony and defend President Bush's "surge" of troops to Iraq. Immediately afterward, a producer from "Hardball" called and asked me to be the pro-Rudy guy on a 9/11 panel they were putting together for the next day. I said sure, and they sent over the question they were going to ask me: is Rudy Giuliani more of a hero than John McCain? I knew how I had to answer: not by a long shot. I forwarded the question to the Giuliani campaign, knowing it would raise red flags with them. They quickly wrote back saying they would appreciate it if I didn't go on "Hardball."

It was then that I realized what a mistake I'd made, stumping for a candidate I couldn't be truthful about. A couple of weeks later I moved out to Phoenix for a job, and I spent the entire fall stewing. I got angry hearing the Republican front runners talking tough about the war and the surge when they had no idea what war was like. Neither Rudy nor sudden contender Mike Huckabee has ever been to Iraq. It struck me as increasingly tragic that while the front runners pecked at one another and puffed out their phony national security credentials, all the while the true war hero, the man who had it right the whole time, who'd not only been to war himself but whose son was in Iraq, sat relegated to the sidelines.

But then a funny thing happened. McCain started to surge. The more the country learned about the other candidates, the more they said, "Oh yeah, we kind of like John McCain." The national security voters, veterans and hawks like myself who grudgingly shifted to Giuliani after McCain seemed buried, have now come back in force for the man. A comparison of his national security credentials to Rudy's isn't much of a contest. McCain wins hands down. He wagered his campaign on the success of the surge and has seen his own flesh and blood sent to the front. While Giuliani showed courage on 9/11, like the Rumsfelds and the Romneys of the world, he doesn't know what it's like to be shot at. Once it was clear that Mac was back, the candidate who got shot down defending America was the clear choice over the man who gave roaming interviews after a terrorist attack. Never count out a POW.

On the night of the New Hampshire primary I sat watching the results come in while sitting on my hands in my Phoenix apartment, quietly pulling for McCain. After the pundits called it for him, I was thrilled, but I felt terrible. I should have been happy, but it was like watching my favorite team win after betting against them. The next day I called the McCain headquarters in Virginia and told the intern who answered the phone, "This is Cpl. Finelli. I'm a Marine, a 9/11 survivor and an Iraq War veteran. I need to talk to the campaign manager." "Right away sir," the kid said and gave me Rick Davis's cell phone. I immediately called Davis, and when he answered I started in: "I've been backing Giuliani because I thought you guys were out. I'm sorry. Please let me help." "Absolutely," he said. It feels good to be home.

Finelli is an inactive noncommissioned officer in the Marine Corps.

© 2008