Prison Cells, Tourists And One-Liners

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For the Hanoi government, McCain is not a source of infatuation, but he is a significant figure--and sometimes an irksome one. His outburst last week that "the wrong guys won" wasn't exactly diplomatic. Still, McCain was instrumental in pushing the U.S. to normalize relations with its former enemy. In Hanoi, he used his clout to argue for a free-trade agreement with the U.S. that has been stalled in recent months. And he attended a "repatriation ceremony"--the transfer to American custody of the recently discovered remains of U.S. servicemen. It is part of reconciliation, says McCain.

To get a sense of McCain abroad, imagine Mark McGwire traveling overseas, ignored by locals who know nothing of baseball but surrounded by adoring Americans. Wherever McCain goes, Americans shake his hand and tell him how inspired they were by his campaign. They are like Ken and Kim High, tourists from San Francisco who last week stopped by the prison turned museum known to POWs as the Hanoi Hilton. "We were talking about how John McCain had been held here and everything he went through," said Ken, "when all of sudden, we turned the corner and there he was."