IT’S ONE of the unifying issues in politics. The soldier whose life is blown apart by war that civilians vote to wage. How could it not be turned into a political opportunity by a man struggling to prove he’s got a heart?
The biggest casualty of this election is that we never had a real discussion about the wars we fight, beyond political party talking points made to make the man running for office the commander in chief hero when he’s not.
SGT. PETER DAMON (RET.): I volunteered to go to Iraq in 2003. I was involved in a horrible accident, which left me a double amputee. I first met Governor Romney during my recovery at Walter Reed. He took a personal interest in one soldier’s story and he wanted to know how he could help.
NARRATOR: Romney worked with a charity to build special homes for severely injured veterans.
DAMON: The Mitt Romney I know cares deeply about people who are struggling. Mitt Romney helped make a huge difference in my life.
The real “horrible accident” is that we were in Iraq in the first place. A war that may have been concocted by Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and Don Rumsfeld, but was sold to the American public by Democrats and Republicans, as well as the American media.
The most popular politician on the scene today who wasn’t for the Iraq war is now president. Trouble is the politician who made the speech against the Iraq war in a safe Illinois district, with no one listening or watching at the time, has no resemblance to the man occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
It’s one of the reasons Barack Obama is now deadlocked with Mitt Romney.
You’re right, of course, it’s a lot to do with many of us not seeing any difference that matters between these two. I think there’s another reason, though, which is best explained by this RCP link. We think the country is going in the wrong direction by a pretty hefty margin, and that margin has been getting generally larger since 2009.
I’m old enough to have had relatives and teachers who lived through the Great Depression. One of the most profound impressions I have of that era is that President Roosevelt gave the country reason to hope that things were going to get better. He gave people reason to think that there was someone in their national capital who gave a crap about how they were doing. The New Deal was started in 100 days. People could feel like there was hope, because there were people in DC who were willing to move heaven and earth to make them better.
Contrast that with now, when there’s never a lack of excuses for why things can’t be done. The Republicans Are Obstructionists. We Can’t Change Things Overnight. Blah, blah, blah. There are also no lack of people, most of whom are doing just fine, thank you, who are happy to reinforce those lame excuses.
That’s the difference I see. Roosevelt gave us hope, and Obama gave us hopey-changey (AKA Sucks Less). Roosevelt told the rich and powerful who didn’t like his programs to get lost. Obama sucks up to them. Roosevelt would have won a fifth term handily had he lived long enough to run in 1948. Obama’s hanging on by his fingernails, hoping for all that extra post-presidency cash another term will bring.
It’s hard to underestimate the smarts of the average American voter, but this is one of those times when I think their behavior pretty accurately reflects the choice before us.
I could not agree with you more, Cujo359.
What was it Ben said? Protect it or lose it?
This was always going to be a close election…the country is divided. So, when Obama was leading in the polls I was shocked…with all the crap right wing had thrown at him for three years…the guy should have been toast.
It was thanks to Romney bad campaign management team that Obama had a lead for so long. But those does are gone… now its a dog fight to the bitter end. I still give the edge to Obama…a small one…with the electoral college. However, Romney is running a “charm offense”…the aww shucks I am not such a bad guy…look I even have wounded veterans that love me, and suburban moms that know I not hurt their right choose in my campaign Ads…
So, I would not be in the least bit surprised if Romney manages a very small win for this Presidential election. People are falling left and right for the new improved compassionate Romney…LOL
Mitt Romney has one agenda when he gets in office…and its taking the nation back to 1980…I refuse to fall for both Romney and Obama lies, this year.
Romney cares so much he didn’t find it necessary to mention the military in his convention speech; Obama, though voting against authorizing the invasion, went on to approve all of Bush’s funding requests. Now that we’ve experienced his national security and foreign policy principles, it’s easy to see why.
So- one candidate gave lip service about caring. The other didn’t. And this is significant to you?
Frankly I’m sick to death of our political leaders waxing poetic about the Brave Troops who Fight for Our Freedom on one day and then callously commit them to military adventures and cut veteran’s funding the next. Politicians love Veteran’s Day but don’t give a damn about Veterans. They love the Fourth of July but don’t give a damn about Liberty. They love to talk, they don’t care much about the walk.
Very, very few civilians vote for war anymore, because the question is not put to the House and Senate, as the Constitution requires. And now that there’s no more draft, there is very little payback when the grand adventure goes bad. A tiny percentage of Americans are intimately connected with warfare. The rest are intimately connected with Facebook, their I Phones, and their Kindle Fires, and their experience in combat is limited to playing Worlds of Warcraft. So we end up with wars without end, and very few people notice.
” So- one candidate gave lip service about caring; the other didn’t, and this is significant to you. ” No Schlomo, it’s not significant to me. I was simply trying to show what a phony Romney is. I agree with practically everything you said in your little diatribe and have said so many times in many comments. Maybe you’ve got gas from a bad potato latkes.
Nope, I just misread your post and responded too quickly to it. I apologize.