Five years ago, the United States normalized trade relations with Vietnam.  Admirably, Sen. John McCain was a significant supporter of that change in U.S. policy.  Yet now, his inexcusable use of a derogatory racial epithet to describe the Vietnamese has sent a bad message halfway around the world.  It's unbefitting a U.S. senator who may soon sit in the Oval Office.

It may be understandable for McCain to harbor some feelings other than goodwill toward those who held him captive for over five years.  Yet based on the reaction to his words, McCain might better serve his country by keeping his anger private. 

In response to McCain's vitriolic comments, Hanoi's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said it's her country's policy to "set aside the past and look forward to the future and cooperate for mutual development."  It's not a good day for American credibility if the government of Vietnam is seen as taking the higher road. 

The word "gook" has always been an unmistakable ethnic slur.  As Republican analyst Tony Quinn told the San Francisco Examiner, "It was perfectly clear that the phrase was used by GIs to refer to all Vietnamese. It applies not just to bad guys and communists but it's generic and derogatory."

Karen Narasaki, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, told Knight Ridder newspapers that McCain would have been "immediately and appropriately" criticized if he had made that comment about any other ethnic group.  Like many others, she feels the senator has gotten off easy because of his war record. 

McCain's opponent, Texas Governor George W. Bush, has made it clear that he "wouldn't use the word."  It's time for John McCain to realize his error and apologize.