Still cocky from the previous day’s kills, McCain took the biggest gamble of his life. As he dived in on the target in his A-4, his surface-to-air missile warning system sounded: A SAM had a lock on him. “I knew I should roll out and fly evasive maneuvers,” McCain writes. “The A-4 is a small, fast” aircraft that “can outmaneuver a tracking SAM.”

But McCain didn’t “jink.” Instead, he stayed on target and let fly his bombs — just as the SAM blew his wing off.

No matter how heroic — he was more likely to die than survive — this speaks to McCain’s long-standing preference to gamble on personal glory rather than be a steady hand.

Yeah, it’s not the talking point that’s going to be front and center with the Obama campaign. But, I keep coming back to it.

McCain is a risk-taker who neither fears death nor trusts long-term steadiness. In his heart of hearts, he knows he may not have 8 years to serve. This leaves him impatient to make his mark, and ready to act erratically and irrationally in the Oval Office. He will be sorely tempted to reach early and often for options with the glimmer of heroism.

The role of the heroic fighter pilot is essential to the country’s military effectiveness. Heroes who become effective admirals, generals, or presidents, though, grow to understand that it’s no longer about self-serving gestures. Four decades later, McCain has not learned that lesson.