After the first of next year the campaign for the White House will begin in earnest it would seem. Politico,taking a break from its job as mouthpiece for the GOP, points out that all the likely candidates will have one thing in common:
Of the 16 top GOP presidential prospects for 2012, only Rep. Ron Paul and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have ever served in the Armed Forces. Since President Barack Obama also never served in the military, the odds are that in two years, Americans are likely to cast their votes in the first presidential race in nearly 70 years where neither major party nominee has ever worn the nation’s uniform.
That’s OK you tell yourself-“the veterans from the war in Iraq will soon fill that gap.”
Don’t be so sure:
While there are signs that veterans of recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have started entering public life in greater numbers, it’s unlikely to significantly move the dial because a hallmark of these wars are repeated tours from the same small group of people. Rep.-elect Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), for example, served a combined five tours with the Air Force, three in Iraq and two in Afghanistan.
Why did so many of these folks not serve? Because they could. The issue is not so much that they did not serve, rather it will be like that of Dick Cheney and others: they will be more than willing to employ military force at the drop of a hat-without understanding the sacrifices involved.
And that’s kind of the real point, isn’t it?
“You’ve asked a very small part of America to take most of the risks for America,” said Anthony Cordesman, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies who has advised the Obama administration on its policy in Afghanistan. “I don’t think the 2012 Republican slate is as much an issue as the level of sacrifice that’s being asked a very small proportion of America to make.”
Bring up the idea of national service for all able bodied men-and watch the whining begin. A lot of which, will come from inside the services themselves which always amazes me.
Think about that-and the ensuing civil-military gap. Don’t see any Tea Party anger about that-now do you? Of course not, because most of them never served. Most “progressives” didn’t either. It is a bipartisan disease.
If I were king of the US-that would be one of the first things I would attack.
UPDATE: Jose Ferrer explains it,
Skippy,
How many of the possible candidates from both sides of the aisle that may run will have military service. The only one that would be credible so far other than the two yo unamed would be Wesley Clark.
eh?
JFK. LBJ. Nixon all served and yet, there was that little dust up called Vietnam.
Eisenhower and lebanon.
Lincoln served in the militia during the Black Hawk War but still we had the War of the Succession.
Come to think of it had they succeeded you’d be in a foreign country right now, though I guess you already FEEL that you are in a foreign country eh?
All you need to do is marry your sister, have a 1962 F150 with a gun rack and chew tobacco and you’d be in hillbilly heaven.
Now WHERE is that kid with the banjo?
Richard, it must be Tennessee you’re referring to since Alabama is much too flat and none of them are gifted on the banjo.
Point taken.
1) Can’t figure your angle on this one as it must not have mattered to you 2 years ago when you voted for the current no military experience President.
Clearly you all missed my point. The issue is not about individual candidates- it is about the fact that .5% of all of Americans have to bear the burden of wars that were stupidly gotten into. I want and support a program of national service-or at least a draft lottery.
And two years ago Palin the whore was on the ticket-so it made voting for McCain and impossibility. That and his love for the war in Iraq.
no no skippy, you missed the point big time. You’re surrounded now by the guys that bit the bullet, took the shilling and signed on once and again and again. Look around dude. Those are the patriots. And their wives and children.
I’m pretty sure that not one single one will care about service with the militia. They have a simple measure. Character and experience count.
You and SO are used to pussies that won’t fight under any circumstance and damn all those that will. And calling POLITICO a mouthpiece of the right…… Let me direct your attention to the conservative take on those left wing NPR wannabees at Politico.
Going out for a steak with exceptional wonderfulness for lunch. I owes myself.
I’m surrounded by a lot of folks who now hate working as contractors even more and would (as I would) gladly go back to the naval service in a heartbeat.
Besides-I’m not sure what that proves, this discussion is not about them. Its about the rest of the schmucks who don’t bother to even look into the King’s shilling for a few years.