Dems play the military card
By Bill Schneider
CNN Political Unit
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Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry served in the Vietnam War.
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(CNN) -- "What did you do during the war, daddy?"
For politicians of the Vietnam generation, it's the issue that won't go away. But it also doesn't seem to matter.
Former Vice President Dan Quayle confronted the question in 1988, when he was named to the GOP ticket.
When a reporter asked Quayle if he thought the fact that he didn't fight in Vietnam was going to be a handicap in his campaign, he said no.
And he was right -- it wasn't. Not just because he served in the National Guard, but because Vietnam was a deeply unpopular war.
The issue came up again when Bill Clinton first ran for President in 1992.
"I did not do anything illegal or wrong in the draft. I opposed the Vietnam War," said Clinton.
The issue didn't keep him from winning either.
Questions about George W. Bush's National Guard service did surface briefly at the very end of the 2000 campaign.
"What we've got is a series of things that really destroy one of the most powerful arguments that Gov. Bush is making -- That my character is superior to my opponent's," said Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Nebraska, in November 2000.
Once again, it didn't seem to matter. With Bill Clinton in the White House, Democrats were reluctant to make a big deal out of Bush's military service.
Now John Kerry is the party's prospective nominee. That changes everything.
"I look forward to that debate when John Kerry, a war hero with a chest full of medals, is standing next to George Bush, a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard," said DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe on February 1.
The issue may work this time, not just because the Democrats have a war hero, but because the Republicans have a war -- an increasingly unpopular war -- and a president with a growing credibility problem coming out of that war.
"I certainly hope that this level of discourse is not a reflection of what the American people can expect from the Democratic Party over the duration of the campaign," said White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on Wednesday.
Don't bet on it. Because the Democrats now have standing to play the military card -- and to make it as the political Play of the Week.
John Kerry was on both sides of the issue that split the Vietnam generation. He was a war hero and an anti-war hero.
In this campaign, for once it's not the Democrats who have to feel defensive about the sixties.
