Depends what you mean by "monster," I guess

Not sure I understand how this works... Samantha Power says Hillary is a "monster" who'll do anything to win, and for that Obama fires her? Jeez, what happened to Hillary's self-deprecating humor? Anyway, I hope Power stays available, because Obama's gonna need all the help he can get. He's playing a scientific game by Marquis of Queensbury rules, but Clinton's playing Mom-he-touched-me-AGAIN. Girls fight dirty. And, yes, she's a monster. A bad seed, obviously.

So, it's 3 A.M. Who do you want to have a finger on The Button?

1. John McCain. He survived 5½ years of torture in the Hanoi Hilton, then lead the effort in 1990 to normalize relations with Vietnam. A warrior, in other words, who can make peace with his enemies. Given the nuclear football, he can be trusted not to use it, but you know he could.


2. Barak Obama. Hmmm... Gotta revise my stereotypes a bit. He grew up in Hawaii and Jakarta (Indonesia), then got his B.A. degree in poli-sci and international relations at Columbia? J.D. from Harvard Law, magna cum laude? Had to write a book to make sense of his own mixed heritages? If he's played basketball and knows what to do with his elbows, now... Maybe this guy can be trusted with the nuclear football, unless "trust" implies actually using it in a difficult situation. Maybe he'd rather save half the world than see it blown entirely to Kingdom Come.


3. Hillary Clinton. Aside from running the Old Girls gauntlet at Wellesley, it's hard to see how this narcissistic child of privilege has been seriously tested by anything but Whitewater and her own abysmally failed attempts to socialize medicine in America. So far, her main claims to foreign policy fame seem to be a well-chaperoned junket to Kosovo, and lunch once with Gerry Adams, from Sinn Fein. Probably knew Tip O'Neill, too, back when. Has this unstable hysteric got the satchel to push The Button?

Your call.