The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is in reruns this week so they haven't had their chance yet to air a "Stay the course" montage, showing clips of Bush urging that over and over, capped by his recent statement that he was never about "Stay the course." Others have assembled such presentations, however. Here's a brief one from the Democratic National Committee…
And here's a link to a longer segment by Keith Olbermann. Mr. Olbermann makes the obvious point that this kind of self-contradiction is what Republicans love to pounce on to label an opponent a "flip-flopper." In some circles, changing your position seems to be a shameful character trait. Me, I think it's a strength. Or at least, to be able to reassess and reconsider — especially as you learn more — and to be willing to admit you were wrong…well, those are all good qualities to me. (At least, at the moment. I reserve the right to change my mind about this later on.)
Without getting into why our "course" in Iraq may have been right or wrong, I have to say that I always thought "Stay the course" was always a silly motto and probably always is, at least when uncoupled with some words as to why the course remains the correct one. I'm still not hearing a lot of that, which is why support is falling away at a stunning rate. Which reminds me: One of my correspondents — James H. Burns — sent me the following in a message with the subject line, "Why Iraq is not Vietnam"…
Most everyone seems to forget the most stunning, and seemingly obvious difference: Today, there is no draft.
Often forgotten, is that what so motivated mainstream America to protest the war in Vietnam, was conscription.
(There was even a largely forgotten episode in recent American history when LBJ announced the cutoff date for the last acceptable date for marriage exemptions to the draft. That final weekend, either in 1966, or 1967, there were a record number of nuptials.)
…In no way interpret any of this to mean that I think policy has been well engendered, in Iraq. It would have been terrific, I believe, to create a new, friendly to America, democratic beachhead, in the Mid-East. But this administration's execution, obviously, has been one of incompetence.
The modern horror, for our armed forces, is the criminal neglect with which they've been treated, not the least of which are tours of duty beyond anything which had been originally conceived. And, at least until recently, the incidence of soldier suicides among our soldiers in Iraq was higher than in any other war. No doubt, one cause being, that soldiers diagnosed with mental problems WERE BEING KEPT ON A WAITING LIST, with no available hospital, or treatment, "beds." (This is shocking, but you can Google the topic, for verification…)
And everyone seems to forget our guys and gals who are still stationed in Afghanistan.
Some of us haven't forgotten them. In fact, we're concerned they're about to get a tour of portions of Korea.
Good point about the draft. And with 54% of Americans now wanting us out within a year (sez Gallup), you have to wonder what that number would be like if we did have a draft. I'm guessing about half that, and we'd have gotten there a lot sooner.
And yeah, I remember that cutoff date for marriage exemptions. I was 14 or 15 at the time and some of my classmates were actually talking about "convenience marriages," meaning that they'd get some female to do their patriotic anti-war duty and marry them just for the exemption. There would be an understanding that they would not live as man and wife, and would divorce just as soon as the threat was over. I don't think anyone I knew ever went past the stage of musing about it but I do recall one friend discussing it and whether having a "wife" of that kind would inhibit his dating possibilities. (And hey, wasn't that when Dick Cheney got married? Or did he and the Missus just have a baby on some timetable that would keep him out?)
I really think it's amazing that the country has reached this stage in opposition to the war so soon. Even the Democrats and the so-called "liberal media" seem to be catching up to them lately.