November 27, 2005
Let's Stop Refighting the Vietnam War
By Ruben
Navarrette Jr.
SAN DIEGO
-- It's not just during presidential elections that Americans
have to put up with the annoyance of politicians evoking Vietnam
for their own benefit.
This brand
of political gimmickry is never dormant. It can erupt at any time
-- like now, for instance, as the country debates what to do in
a new war, the one in Iraq.
The latest
eruption has me feeling conflicted. You see, I normally get fed
up with politicians who bring up their service in Vietnam to prove
their machismo or challenge the machismo of an opponent who steered
clear of Southeast Asia. But when the practical effect is that
Vice President Cheney gets the rhetorical equivalent of a punch
in the nose, I can't help but grin.
Part of
the reason I'm fed up with hearing about Vietnam is that I'm also
fed up with baby boomers refighting the Vietnam War. Whether the
idea is to bring up Vietnam to prove one's heroism or to challenge
the courage of others, the device often leaves many of those in
our 30s scratching our heads, feeling as if our elders are speaking
some mysterious language only they understand. I'm sure the same
goes for those who are in their 20s and teens.
As someone
who spent part of the 1960s in diapers, the obsession of the baby
boomers with Vietnam has never made any sense to me. But it made
even less sense after the Sept. 11 attacks, when -- with the nation
at war -- it seemed downright irresponsible to use what someone
was like as a young man 30 years ago as a way of assessing whether
he had the mettle to keep America safe for the next 30 years and
beyond. The memory of Vietnam also made a mess of the 2004 election,
when both Democrats and Republicans had trouble sticking to their
own scripts about whether it was fair to bring up how George Bush
and John Kerry behaved as young men in the early 1970s. For both
parties, the short answer turned out to be: It depends. When
it makes my guy look good, it's fair. And when it makes my guy
look bad, it's not.''
Yet, at
the same time, I'm also someone who -- while supportive of President
Bush and much of his administration -- has often thought that
the White House would be much better off if the vice president
resigned and went back to making millions in the private sector.
So I loved
it when Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a former war supporter turned
war critic, let Cheney have it after the vice president accused
critics of the Iraq War of losing their ``backbone.''
As Murtha
rightly pointed out, that is bold talk for someone who -- during
the Vietnam War -- avoided military service by seeking and receiving
five deferments because, as Cheney later explained, he had ``other
priorities'' as a young man.
I bet he
did.
Cheney dodged
military service when he had the chance, and now he has the audacity
to say that others lack courage. He needed to be called on it,
and, personally, I'm glad Murtha did just that.
Of course,
none of this has anything to do with current policy on Iraq, or
about whether Murtha was right to call for a withdrawal of U.S.
troops, or about whether Bush and Cheney are right that withdrawing
would be a terrible mistake. None of this helps us gauge whether
Murtha is correct in his assessment that our soldiers have gone
from liberators to a ``catalyst for violence,'' or whether it
was fair for the White House to respond to Murtha's dissent by
likening the decorated Vietnam veteran to filmmaker Michael Moore
and the left-wing fringe.
While justified,
Murtha's slap at Cheney was, at best, a sideshow. But it might
have some limited practical benefit: It gives us the chance to
finally put to rest this tired technique of using one's service
in Vietnam, or lack thereof, as some sort of yardstick to measure
courage and commitment to this country.
That should
never have been the standard. Vietnam may have helped define a
generation. But it doesn't define the character, self-worth and
leadership ability of every human being in that generation.
Now why
has it taken some Americans so long to figure that out?
©
2005, The San Diego Union-Tribune
