Words...And Action

Yes, I went back and watched it. The supposedly defamatory statement by Gen. Wesley Clark Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation. The one where he simply said "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and being shot down is a qualification for President of the United States."

Ok, it's not a flattering statement. First of all, I think John McCain was the pilot of the plane, so he wasn't just 'riding'. And he was risking his life, as he had almost two dozen other times. But is it any worse than Charlie Black's statement that a terrorist attack would play to McCain's political advantage? Clearly not. Because like Black's statement, it's true. And for all those who think Clark was dissing McCain, watch the whole segment of the interview. He says that McCain is his hero. But he wants to debunk the notion that an officer in the military will automatically make a great Commander-in-Chief.

Of course, Obama had to retreat from the statement. He used these very good words in his speech in Independence, Missouri to do that. Plus, his campaign came out with a full denunciation of Clark's comments.

But what does it all really mean? Surrogates suck? Democrats, even ex generals, can't sound pro-armed service? We're playing a national game of 'Gotcha'? Or is it as Hamlet said, just 'Words, words, words..."?

Fortunately, today there was also action. President Bush, over his dead body, finally signed a 162 billion dollar war appropriations bill that contained Senator Jim Webb's new G.I. Bill. This was years in the making and had to be added to the supplemental package because those pro- armed services guys like Bush and McCain fought against it. In the end, sanity made a comeback. Even though Bush praised McCain for helping to pass it, (really, he fought against it), Webb was the guy who had made it his mission to give post 9-11 service men and women access to a four year college education--just like their greatest generation forbears.

So in the election cycle there are plenty of words that in the end don't really matter. But every once in a while there is action that really does matter. Four years from now, when we choose another President, there will be more words. On the other hand, four years from now, when the first G.I. Bill servicemen and women graduate from college, we'll see some real action.

Do you know someone who will take advantage of the new GI bill? Talk about this or anything else by clicking on 'comments' below, bypassing the Google search and hitting the anonymous or nickname button.