Flawed patriots

A look at famous baby boomers

By Jack Anderson and Douglas Cohn

WASHINGTON — Baby boomers (post-World War II Americans born between 1946 and 1964) have provided two U.S. presidents, neither one of them combat veterans. But now being a combat veteran is back in vogue, and two of the Democratic contenders n Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and retired Gen. Wesley Clark n fit the bill, a fact that is causing no small amount of concern in President George W. Bush’s camp.

Being a combat veteran does not provide a lock on the election, but it helps. Following World War II, combat veteran status was almost a resume requirement for elective office. That changed with Vietnam, when returning veterans were treated with disdain by many people, with their military service even becoming a political liability for many of them.

So it was not unusual to see a man like Bill Clinton rise in the political ranks. He avoided military service, and spoke out against the war on foreign soil when he was a Rhodes scholar in Great Britain. He became governor of Arkansas and went on to defeat George H. W. Bush, a bona fide World War II hero, for the presidency in 1992. It was “the economy, stupid,” and military credentials did not matter. Neither did sexual morality. Clinton was the representative of the culture that grew out of the 1960s. As it turned out, Clinton was re-elected and during his term of office peace, prosperity and balanced budgets emerged.

Then George W. Bush appeared, another boomer, whose connections had landed him a safe spot in the Texas Air National Guard during the 1960s. He, like Clinton, was opposed to the war in Vietnam, and he failed to show up for many of the National Guard duty meetings, a fact that has evoked claims he was absent without leave (AWOL). But as with Clinton, the public seemed not to care. Ducking service in Vietnam was commonplace and had become socially and politically acceptable. Bush, however, helped change the atmosphere by launching a war in Iraq and appearing in a flight suit on an aircraft carrier as well as in military garb in Baghdad. Bush revels in his role as commander-in-chief, and it has become difficult to remember that he ducked combat service when he was young.

This brings us to two very different politicians. Clark is the real deal, a true highly decorated combat veteran who went on to command NATO. Like Clinton, he was a Rhodes scholar. Unlike Clinton, he graduated from West Point. When he entered the Democratic nominating process, it appeared that the man and the times had met. He soared to the top of the polls n and he sank just as fast when his political ineptitude led him to a series of missteps and misstatements.

This has left one veteran standing: John Kerry. He matches Clark medal for medal, but there the analogy ends. Kerry returned from Vietnam and joined the anti-war movement, a fact that did not endear him to many fellow veterans. Worse, he testified before Congress, stating:

“We had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged, and many highly decorated, veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents, but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with full awareness of officers at all levels of command.”

He did not say that he witnessed such crimes, and neither did Doug Cohn (who also served in Vietnam combat). Kerry served courageously, but he offended others who did likewise, which is why he may not have an edge on Bush on the patriot meter.

It is no secret that Clinton backed Clark, hoping that Clark was Clinton in combat fatigues, a sort of John F. Kennedy World War II hero figure. But Clinton and Clark are not JFK, and neither is John F. Kerry. Then again, neither is George W. Bush, nor, apparently, any other boomers with high political aspirations.

Political Correspondent: Eleanor Clift

Copyright 2004 Anderson and Cohn

Distributed by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.