How many people got hired in January 2009? The number could probably be counted on two hands, but one of those people was Meghan McCain, daughter of 2008 presidential candidate Sen. John McCain. Meghan has been running the McCain Blogette since 2007, but earlier this year, she landed a blog on the online Daily Beast, and she isn’t broadcasting GOP pride.
The 24-year-old Columbia University graduate began writing about her experiences on the campaign trail in her personal Blogette, and now she uses the Daily Beast as a sort of online diary. In her March 2 blog, McCain confessed that “”the election killed (her) personal life. (She feared) the election had destroyed (her) ability and desire to date.”” McCain wrote about the many relationship obstacles she faced as a result of her dad’s career choice, some of which seemed legitimate, but as shown below, she didn’t seem to have a clear idea of what she was looking for in a man. It sounds like she has something in common with many recent college graduates.
On dates, McCain says her “”mind wandered”” if the guy expressed a strong interest in President Barack Obama, but she also mentioned having a “”problem with men who voted for (her) dad.”” She went on to say, “”When I find my father’s face staring back at me on a potential date’s Facebook page I am equally put off.”” I am empathetic and understanding toward McCain’s dating woes, but this sounds less like therapeutic venting and a lot more like whining.
A week later, McCain went on to say Ann Coulter is an embarrassment to the Republican Party. Because so many Republicans are put off by Coulter’s shocking statements, McCain had a point, but then she said that Republicans don’t know how to use the Internet. And she wondered why conservative pundit Laura Ingraham had harsh words for her, calling young McCain “”a Republican bashing the GOP.””
Meghan McCain has no obligation to conservatives, and she is strong-willed for speaking her mind, but she fails to realize how much the GOP has done for her. Without the Republican Party, Meghan McCain would be living off her mother’s inheritance and fighting to find work like most people.
Would Meghan McCain have gotten her own personal blog at The Daily Beast had it not been for her father’s profession? In tough economic times, McCain would have struggled alongside other aspiring journalists and writers, but because she is the daughter of a senator and past presidential candidate, she has the privilege of complaining about her problems on a well-established blog, while the rest of us are forced to use LiveJournal.com or personal journals.
Meghan McCain doesn’t have reason to sulk so much. Laura Ingraham was cold and insensitive to call her a “”plus-sized model,”” but judging by the countless dates McCain alluded to in her blog, her curvier shape hasn’t scared the men away. People are losing jobs and homes, and McCain is disappointed that she’s single in her early twenties, and it’s all because of her father.
If it weren’t for the burden of her father’s candidacy and other political successes, young McCain would not have had the opportunity to bemoan on a trendy blog, which is published by former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.
“”It’s all about who you know,”” many say, and it’s true. Did she really have all the qualifications to get into an Ivy League university? As a Xavier Preparatory alumnus, she must have studied hard up north, but like George W. Bush, she had a political parent, not to mention a wealthy mother, and these things have to count for something. McCain can agonize over all the troubles of her father’s political profession, but she doesn’t appreciate or recognize that her family connections have benefited her writing career.
McCain is not a bad daughter for being less than a right-wing nut. The former Newsweek intern also writes well, but so can many jobless Americans. If McCain is going to take advantage of her political status, she should at least recognize that it was the reason for her employment and not publish articles that make her seem like a spoiled, unappreciative, poor little rich girl.
–Laura Donovan is a creative writing junior. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.