I am absolutely appalled by Senator Harkin suggesting that military experience makes one unfit to be the President of the United States.
Regardless of what I may think of McCain, or Bush for that matter, they served their country. They weren't draft dogders, nor did they marry a draft dodger. I think THAT ought to have made Clinton inelligable to be President. If you're not willing to serve when your country actually calls on you, you have no business sending volunteers OR draftees into harm's way.
I don't demand or even expect combat experience, or even military service. All I expect is someone who didn't reject their country when it asked for their service. Deciding not to volunteer is fine. Ducking out when you're asked for help isn't, unless you've got a REALLY good reason for it.
All that said, I do think having served in the military should stand as a point in someone's favor when considering their fitness for the office of President, doubly so if they've been in combat. Every president since FDR has sent troops into harm's way without getting a declaration of war from Congress first. Sometimes the decisions were good, sometimes they were bad. At least every president except Clinton made that decision as someone who once could have been sent themselves. That gives one a certain perspective, I think. I know my time in public safety gave me a different perspective on when people should run into burning buildings.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
If you're referring to the current president Bush, he was a draft dodger, actually. His father got him a job in the National Guard, he was trained to work on a plane that being phased out of use in Vietnam, and he spent most of his time in the Guard AWOL.
If you've heard otherwise, I'd be happy to read up on it. That's what I know of.
McCain disappoints me because after being a POW, being tortured, he completely caved in when Bush neutered the anti-torture bill he sponsored with his bleeding signing statement:
The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective of ... protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks.
I really hate the government right now. I'd like to be able to at the very least go back to simply thinking they're slightly stupid, but mostly harmless.
Post a Comment