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Oh, did we mention...? What Did He Do in the War, Daddy?By Rick Horowitz
Not that I'm complaining. Well, maybe just a little. The Democratic National Convention, I mean. I don't want to sound ungrateful. After all, as pageantry, the convention certainly had enough flags and funny hats, enough waving signs and funky music to keep me entertained all week long. As politics -- it's a presidential nominating convention, for pity's sake! Of course it had politics, even if some of the rougher edges were sanded off for our prime-time viewing comfort. But as personality -- that's where they may have come up a little short. I wanted to know more about John Kerry. That's because choosing the president of the United States isn't like choosing the president of the PTA. There's a lot more riding on it, and people -- voters, that is -- have this deep-down need to make a connection, not merely to some abstract batch of policies, but to the particular guy who'll be trying to turn those policies into reality for the next four years. So I wanted to know about the man. And in particular, I wanted to hear about John Kerry's military service. I'm pretty sure John Kerry served in the military. It would have been nice if they'd mentioned that, instead of spending so much time telling us what a loving father he is, and what a devoted husband he is, and what a hard worker he is, and what a bundle of laughs he is. OK, so they didn't tell us what a bundle of laughs he is either. In the general scheme of things, though, "bundle of laughs" isn't that big a deal one way or the other. (Besides, these days, I'll definitely take a serious guy who keeps us safe over a cutup who's laughing his way to disaster.) But military service -- that's different. That would definitely be worth mentioning, if it happened. And I'm pretty sure it did happen. I think I heard something a couple of years ago -- or maybe I even read it somewhere, I can't remember. But the gist of it, wherever it was, was that John Kerry actually was in the military. Couldn't they have found a minute to tell us that? In four days? Maybe they figured people wouldn't be interested, that if they talked about John Kerry's military service even once, people would get bored and turn to another channel. They figured wrong. I'm sure people would have been perfectly willing to hear about it, if only to know that John Kerry had been willing to wear our country's uniform. I say "willing." That assumes he wasn't just drafted and couldn't do anything about it. But even if he was drafted -- if he went wherever they sent him, that still says something about him. And if he actually volunteered, even better. So why wouldn't they want to mention that? Even if he didn't do anything special or dangerous or heroic or anything, it's still worth a line or two in a convention speech, wouldn't you think? I'll bet they thought it would come across as bragging. I'll bet they decided it would be hard for someone who'd been in uniform to talk about himself. Fair enough. So couldn't they have had other people talk about him? He must have had bunkmates, or crewmates, or cockpitmates (I'm not sure cockpitmates is a word, but you know what I mean) who could have vouched for him. They could have talked about what it was like serving with him. And if he ever did anything extraordinary -- maybe they were in a battle or something -- they could be the ones to tell the stories. Or just have a big reunion and invite the photographers. Or show old pictures. If John Kerry spent time in uniform, there has to be an old picture or two sitting in a scrapbook somewhere. With all the planning the convention organizers did for everything else, you'd think they could have come up with those pictures. Then they could have gotten them enlarged, or even turned them into a video. They say a picture's worth a thousand words. But if you don't show the pictures, and you don't say the words... Talk about a missed opportunity! Posted 7/29/04. Don't
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Rick Horowitz
