Preparing America for compassionate conservatism

LOLLING back in the Straight Talk Express as it zipped along the country roads of New Hampshire last winter, John McCain—now a supporter of the man the Republican Party will nominate for president next week, then a rival for the job—put his finger on the doubt that has nagged at Republicans from the moment George W. Bush announced he was running for president last year in Iowa: “You have to wonder,” said the senator, “what would happen in the far reaches of the night, when it's just him alone in the Oval Office, and we're facing a nuclear threat. What kind of decision would he make?”