大象传媒

American voters say they prefer their politicians honest, but does being a straight-talker actually have negative consequences? John McCain, a war hero turned foot soldier in the "Reagan Revolution", was considered a maverick within his own party for always speaking from the heart even when it wasn't politically expedient. His first run in 2000 saw one of the more brutal, knockdown drag-out fights between his campaign and that of the ultimately victorious George W. Bush. Eight years later, despite his storied record in the Senate and a headline-making choice for Vice President, he found his run for the Presidency upended by the presence of a certain history-making newcomer, Barack Obama. Like McCain, Shirley Chisholm, a black woman who dared to run for Congress just three years after African Americans saw the passing of the Voting Rights Act, followed her own instincts. She was a bold straight-talker who didn't want to wait her turn to follow an African-American man or a white woman running for President--she saw an opportunity and she took it for herself, smashing multiple glass ceilings in the press conference announcing her candidacy. For both John McCain and Shirley Chisholm, part of the reason they ran is that both were supremely "un-bought and un-bossed". It could also very well be the reason they lost.