"I bring stability--my husband is the strong, vivacious, determined, energetic one."
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Chitose Suzuki/AP Images
McCain in Vietnam with Operation Smile, a charity that helps repair kids' cleft palates.
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Christopher Morris/VII
"My husband does his thing, and I make sure we all stay together as a family," says Cindy McCain.
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Christopher Morris/VII
"My husband does his thing, and I make sure we all stay together as a family," says Cindy McCain.
Her campaign speeches rarely last more than a minute or two, but she has been quite effective on the attack, including against Michelle Obama. And Cindy neatly lays out the choice the country faces in November, suggesting that the most important difference between the two candidates is fiscal: "If you want less taxes and less government, then my husband's your man.''
The upside of being guarded is the gaffes you avoid. The downside is that's no way to let the country get to know you. Carl Anthony, a historian who has written extensively about first ladies, suggests that being too cautious is almost as risky as over-sharing. Voters do want to see "a certain degree of vulnerability,'' he says. We "most appreciate and support first ladies who are neither too blunt, undiplomatic, flippant, and aggressive-honest-nor too controlled, stiff, artificial, and passive-dishonest.'' Oh, and we have a few thoughts about how they should wear their hair.
On the question of whether there's any particular first lady she'd like to emulate, she is diplomatic in the extreme: all of them. "I kind of feel like I have a bit of every one of them in me. I see my protectiveness of my husband in Nancy Reagan,'' she begins, and "I see some of the humanitarian things that Laura Bush has done in me. I see something marvelous in all of them.'' Including Hillary Clinton? "Oh, yes! Oh, no, she was remarkable''-of course, she had better say that, given the number of Hillary fans who, polls show, are thinking about voting for her husband. In what way? "Her interest in our country, her interest in promoting education and children. She absolutely did marvelous things as first lady.''
When I ask whether she feels the way Clinton was treated during her presidential run could properly be characterized as sexist, however, she smiles and steps around that word. "I looked at it from the aspect of a family member. I'm proud of my husband for having run-and he's going to run-a clean, aboveboard, and, for lack of a better word, gentlemanly campaign,'' she says, suggesting perhaps that Barack Obama has not always done likewise. "Anytime you delve into personal issues, it's not good.'' In her experience, certainly, it hasn't been. But nothing is more personal than presidential politics. And no one knows that better than Cindy McCain.
See a photo slide show of the women at readersdigest.com/firstlady.
As John McCain goes head-to-head against Barack Obama for the U.S. presidency, RD asks the tough questions on his positions, promises, and what he likes -- and doesn't like -- about his competitor.
The candidates are courting us all-but they're paying special attention to a handful of voters in just a few states. Meet the people who will choose our next president.
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