In times of war, warriors tend to rise to the top in politics. That’s good news for war veterans seeking elective office and bad news for nonvets of both genders.

America’s war in Iraq might not be popular, but few blame the U.S. military. And darn few Americans question the overall war on terror – especially defense of the American homeland. So although President Bush’s Iraq-dunked approval ratings are down, a full 74 percent of Americans told Gallup in June that they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the military. By comparison, the police ranked second in confidence, with a score of 63 percent. (At the bottom of the Gallup rankings were Congress and big business, each with 22 percent.) America is a country forged in war. From George Washington to Andrew Jackson, our most popular early presidents were war heroes. In the wake of the Civil War, six of the next seven presidents were Civil War veterans. And, in the last century, the combination of World War II and the Cold War left Americans with yet another string of vet presidents, nine in all.

Not until 1992, three years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, did voters feel comfortable electing nonvet Bill Clinton to the White House.

Then came 9-11, and now, five years into “the long war,” it’s likely that another pro-military political cycle has started up again.

So it’s no accident that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is the 2008 front-runner right now, both for the Republican nomination and for the presidency itself. As everyone knows, he was a Navy carrier pilot before being shot down over Vietnam and spending 5 1/2 harrowing years as a prisoner of war. To be sure, war-hero status is not enough by itself; plenty of other Vietnam vets, including POWs, have fallen by the political wayside in recent decades. But at the same time it’s indisputable that the core of McCain’s appeal is his war record.

Today, relatively few Americans are involved with the armed services. Whereas one man in five wore a uniform during World War II, today the ratio is one man in a hundred. And yet while it’s entirely possible today to live out one’s life through iPods and “American Idol,” the deepest realities of human existence haven’t changed with the advent of electronics and entertainment. That is, the pulse, especially the masculine pulse, still quickens at the sound of bugles – and gunfire. All those young men playing warlike video games prove that.

So when the real thing comes along – defined as comradeship, blood sacrifice and national honor – the voters snap to salute.

Yet at the same time, war heroes, while politically popular, are not necessarily gung-ho militarists. President William McKinley, who rose from private to brevet major during the Civil War, was reluctant, 30 years later, to start fighting with Spain. “I’ve been through one war,” he declared. “I’ve seen the bodies stacked like cord wood, and I don’t want to go through that sort of thing again.” And President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the great commander of World War II, was a fierce and knowing critic of what he labeled the “military-industrial complex.” What McKinley and Eisenhower had – and what McCain has – is military credibility. They’ve been there.

And for McCain, the patriotic brew is about to grow even stronger. His 18-year-old son, Jimmy, has enlisted in the Marines and will enter basic training in September. Which is to say, by the spring of next year, young McCain could well be in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Times of war are times for heroes. That’s good news for McCain, politically, and bad for just about every other ’08 hopeful. The other men, and women, who might be eyeing the White House will discover that talking the tough talk is a poor substitute for having walked the tough walk – the path of glory.