From: elendil@mintir.new-orleans.la.us (Edward J. Branley)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.elections
Subject: Re: The big flaw in Clinton's Vietnam scenario
Date: Sun, 06 Sep 92 07:58:32 CDT
Organization: Minas Tirith BBS, New Orleans, LA

mulac@daystrom.lerc.nasa.gov (Richard Mulac) writes:

>     It's not the fact that Clinton was reluctant to serve that will turn
> some voters against him, but instead will be what he did while not serving.
> In Clinton you have a man who boasts proudly that he already had as a goal
> becoming President while in his teens, a man who claims to have more
> qualities of leadership than Bush, a man who says he firmly believes in his
> principles, and a man who eloquently wrote of how he could not morally justif
> fighting in the Vietnam war.  If all these things are true, wouldn't such a
> man have thrown himself into the forefront of the anti-war movement and
> demonstrated what a great leader he was?  All great leaders have been
> willing to sacrifice personally when fighting for what they believe in.  I
> have yet to hear of any event in Clinton's life so far in which he has
> stood fast for what he believes, but at great personal expense.  If Clinton
> was of presidential stock, he would have stayed in the US and worked his
> way into the leadership of the anti-war movement, instead of worrying about
> future 'political viability'.
>
> --
> Richard Mulac                                     mulac@daystrom.lerc.nasa.go
> NASA Lewis Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Road, MS 5-9, Cleveland, OH  4413
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> "The question is - who do you trust to make change work | These pontification
> for you?" - President George Bush                       |      are my own!

I'm a little younger than Clinton, therefore wasn't directly in the position of
being drafted, but I still can remember many guys in the 18-20 range weren't
rabid anti-war types, just scared shitless about the prospect of going over to
Vietnam and getting killed.  The situation in Vietnam was a bad one for the
average grunt that only got worse as the war dragged on.  Clinton was a bit
older when he was eligible, having finished college, so I think it's safe to
say that the bloodlust and desire to 'see the world' that many a 18-year old
has was gone from him at that point.  I know my desire to join the Army and go
to Germany disappeared when grad school and career were just around the corner.

I'm not quite sure why you feel that Clinton needs a great defining moment in
his life.  So what if GHWB has experienced such a moment?  What has he done at
great personal expense that has explained his flip-flop on abortion, on taxes,
now on selling jets to Taiwan?  I see nothing in George Bush where his war
service has made him into anything than a political hack who twists in whatever
direction the wind is blowing.





|Edward J. Branley                         elendil@mintir.New-Orleans.LA.US|
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