1115.org

The Vietnam conflict ended almost 30 years ago, but it still weighs in heavily in current politics. Each of the two main candidates for President had distinctive involvement in the military during the conflict. One sat at home safely in the National Guard, skipping out on physicals, and the other earned Purple Hearts for injuries and Bronze and Silver Star medals for his service. Despite these polar opposite experiences and the intense scrutiny each has received for his service, public opinion might not swing the way you’d think.

John Kerry’s decision to rely so heavily on his Vietnam War record duing the DNC might have been a bit of a mistake. Think about this: The last president we had who served in the military for any serious time was George H. W. Bush. As the incumbant, he lost to a draft dodger, Bill Clinton. Then the draft dodger beat the decorated war hero Bob Dole for re-election. After that, outgoing VP Al Gore who actually was in Vietnam, albiet as an Army journalist, lost to a daddy’s boy whose father used political ties to enlist him in the National Guard. At this point we’re looking at 12 years of military service being pretty much a non-issue when it comes to actually deciding the presidential election. This year, Kerry could have possibly made an issue out of it because for once he held the higher ground by far and should have gone on the offensive. Instead, he sat on his hands after the DNC while the right leaning 527’s turned what could have possibly been an advantage into a disadvantage. Now he says he’s going to go “on attack”, pounding on Bush’s poor leadership. I’m guessing at this point it’s a case of too little, too late. So whose idea was it to lean so heavily on his military service? A quick glance at the last decade plus would have cleared up how meaningless it was.

Now a big deal is being made about W’s direct disobeying of orders during his time in the National Guard. If the media or 527s want to go after Bush for this, that’s their decision. Kerry had better not waste one more breath on this issue, as it will most likely prove to be insignificant in deciding the outcome of the election.

Bush has so many more flaws for Kerry to pound on that it’s almost laughable. Now’s the time to hammer away.