Obama/Biden The Chickenhawk and The Draft Dodger

For eight years now there’ve been incessant complaints from people that George W Bush was a draft dogder, was awol from the Air National Guard (see also Dan Rather), that he should send his daughters to go fight in Iraq, that Vice President Cheney was a draft dodger because he had numerous college deferments, and that both men were hypocrites to send others off to war while they avoided service in Vietnam and refused to send their own children to fight in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

All of a sudden, those same critics of President Bush and Vice President Cheney have no problem at all and are completely silent with Barack Obama and Joe Biden.  Obama has already told us that he will continue the war in Iraq for at least 16 months (probably longer since tens of thousands of troops will remain after that 16 month time frame).  He’s promised to take those units of the so-called broken military pulled from Iraq, and rather than let them rest, send them to Afghanistan (could it be that the military we’ve been told was broken for 4years…really isn’t?).   Senator Obama’s told us he’s willing to risk war with Pakistan, and Iran.  Meanwhile, he himself has never served in a uniform.  His Vice President, Joe Biden, will have as many deferments from service in Vietnam as Dick Cheney, and despite claims of vast foreign policy experience, Joe Biden can’t seem to tell the difference between a battalion and a brigade (the difference is 1:3 in size and power respectively).

Yes, it’s true that Sen Biden has a son in the military, but somehow that son has managed to avoid combat duty for years, and is only now going to Iraq.  Is he a “senator’s son”?  They guy is going now, so does it matter?

Enter John McCain and Sarah Palin.  Both have kids in combat.  John McCain not only served, but his accomplishments and heroism is the stuff movies are made of (recall the footage of him rolling through the flames on the deck of the burning USS Forrestal?!).  Sarah Palin hasn’t served, but she is Commander in Chief of the Alaskan National Guard.  Not to degrade the Delaware National Guard for example, but the Alaskan National Guard guys find Afghanistan warm and tropical by comparison to their 1 weekend a month and 2wks a year.  They’re a tough bunch.  Doubt her foreign policy ability?  That’s fine.   There’s not a lotta meat on her resume regarding that, but if she were to meet with Iranian leaders….does anyone doubt that a mother of 5 with a son in Iraq would be the most emphatic and effective person to discuss a halt of Iranian weapons shipments to Iraq?  I can’t see my mom accepting anything other than an, “OK!  OK!  Geez lady, we’ll stop!”   What would your mom do?  She’s certainly not going to be YEE-HAW(!)-reckless with the lives of men and women in uniform.

So where have all the anti-Bush/Cheney cries of “Chickenhawk!” and “draft dodger!” gone?  If they’re silent now in the face of Obama/Biden then the rantings were just rantings and not substantive.  Could it possibly be that all these years of smears have just been political and not substantive complaints?  Could it be that those people who made the claims about Bush and Cheney but are silent about Obama and Biden were just being insulting, low, and dishonorable?

For my money, I don’t think any of them are chickenhawks, but those who do ought to step back and do some soul-searching.