What Bush Learned From the Military

In looking at the military records of George Bush and John Kerry, the extent of their service or their specific experiences aren't what matter. If they did, voters would be deciding between Wes Clark and Colin Powell in November, not Bush and Kerry. What matters is what Bush and Kerry's military experiences taught them, and how it impacts the type of leaders they are today.

Kerry made a very instructive comment on this in an interview in yesterday's Chicago Tribune:

I learned a lot personally about what happens when you're on the front lines carrying a gun, being asked to kill people for your country. Being shot at, you learn something, about risk, about states, about duty and obligations, and you learn about strategies and other kinds of things, and I think you learn a lot of questions to ask as a commander in chief before you put someone else in that predicament.

Meanwhile, Bush rode out the tail end of the Vietnam War in Texas and Alabama, playing fighter pilot before taking a self-authorized sabbatical to work on the election campaign of one of his father's political cronies. What Kerry learned from his military experience is neatly expressed in his above quote. And what did Bush learn from his own military service? First, that personal commitments don't need to be honored if one feels like doing something else, and second, that making personal sacrifices are for other people to worry about.

It's hard to envision anybody who has faced front-line combat being as eager to wage war on Iraq as was the Bush Administration. But the administration's minimal military experience--except Powell, whose moderate views clearly have little impact on Bush's policies--gave it the critical and intellectual distance necessary to wage a massive military campaign with little provocation or justification, to send thousands of low-level soldiers to serve as cannon fodder in support of an ill-informed political ideology.

Simply put, George Bush doesn't think the little guy--whether it's an infantryman or a blue-collar worker--really matters. John Kerry and John Edwards truly care, and will make this country better for all of us, not just the priviliged few that Bush favors.