Oh, If Only . . .

[selenite0]

In an alternate universe Kerry gives an interview:

EAST HAMPTON, NY (IP) -- Democratic Presidential nomineee John Kerry laughs when told that most voters don't realize that he served in Vietnam, winning three purple hearts, a bronze star, and a silver star.

"Why should they? That's several wars ago," Kerry laughs. "Old stuff. I'd much rather people be talking about my detailed plan to rebuild Iraq, using an oil trust mechanism that would give the Iraqi people a stake in reconstruction. That's why I focused on that in my acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention. What was I going to do, rehash events from 35 years ago?"

Now that's a candidate who'd be trying to get my vote. Might succeed, too.

Comments

[abovenyquist.livejournal.com]

Kerry invited the flap over his medals, whether he deserved them or not, etc. when he decided to make the fact that he served in Vietnam in the 70s a centerpiece of his campaign. If he hadn't made such a big deal about it, you probably wouldn't have this whole Swift Boats for Truth business. I'd much rather have a Democratic (or Republican, or whoever) who was focused on what's happening now than what he did 35 years ago. The trumpeting of the three purple hearts is such a cynical public relations move - it's sort of like the perscription drug benefits nonsense of the last election. I can't fault the either the Kerry or Bush camps for making cynical public relations moves though, since they've often been effective on a vast majority of the electorate.

It's analogous to the questions about whether Bush was AWOL or not in the early 70s, or whether he used his daddy's influence to make sure he didn't get into the line off fire like Kerry did. I don't care either way; if Bush went AWOL, that's something he did 35 years ago as a young man, and everyone makes mistakes, especially when they're young. I'm far more interested in whether a person learned from their mistakes, and what kind of person that makes them now. If everyone would just agree that either (a) both served admirably, or (b) both didn't, the dialogues would start getting more productive.

One aspect of the current administration that troubles me the most their inability to learn for their mistakes and make course corrections accordingly, or even consider the possibility that they might make mistakes; they seem to have a Papal Infaillibility complex.

Sadly, the overall incompetence and lack of focus of the Kerry campaign, and Kerry's own inability to define himself and his positions in a coherent fashion for more than three days at a time, has largely made me resigned to the reality that we'll have four more years of Dick Cheney as President the United States.