I do not hold, as some seem to, that the Oval Office should necessarily be occupied by a veteran. Indeed, we're a democracy with a traditionally small military which has civilian leadership. And that's a good thing.
But it's' interesting to note that the position, which places the occupant into the role of being the Commander In Chief, and which was first occupied by a veteran in the figure of George Washington, hasn't had one for awhile.
Joe Biden was of military age during the Vietnam War, but he had a series of deferrements to the draft before asthma ultimately disqualified him from being eligible for service. Asthma is a real condition and no joke, so I'm not claiming anything by noting that.
Kamala Harris (dob 1964) also lacks military service, but she's a post Boomer and hence post conscription and there's no particular reason I'd have expected her to have seen service.
Donald Trump didn't see military service as a young man and there is reason to question why that's the case. Mike Pence, however, is a late Boomer (dob, 1959) and again, that would mean that he was in the post conscription era. Having said that, quite a few men did still join the much larger service during that era.
If that seems like a double standard in regard to Harris, it isn't meant to be. Men then had, and still have, a much higher service joining rate than women.
Barack Obama (1961) was a very late Boomer, or maybe a post Boomer, so we wouldn't automatically expect military service in his background and we'd be correct.
And that takes us to George W. Bush, who had. He was, as we've noted in the past, a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. That is real service.
His Vice President, however, did not see service and had a series of deferrements. Ironically that individual, Dick Cheney, served as Secretary of Defense under Bush I.
George W. Bush's predecessor, Bill Clinton, didn't see service, but his Vice President, Al Gore, saw it in Vietnam as a member of the U.S. Army.
Significant? Maybe, maybe not. It does reflect a real change, but in some ways a return to periodic prior times. If there's been a big war in the relatively near past, usually that means that a President and his Vice President are likely to have seen service. If there hasn't been, its unlikely. As a rule, while Americans since World War One are careful to honor veterans, we're really not a martial nation, and that reflects itself in our leaders.
We are, and it should be remembered, a "nation of laws", and that sure reflects itself in the Oval Office. Biden and Harris are lawyers. Pence is a lawyer. Obama was a lawyer. Clinton was a lawyer. You get the picture.
Related Threads:
No comments:
Post a Comment