30 January 2008

Veterans

The McCain Monument, Hanoi

There was a lot of talk when Bob Dole made his run against Bill Clinton to be President of these United States that, if successful, he would be the last WW II veteran to serve in the Oval Office. For a half century, no one could aspire to that office without service in that war. George W. Bush's Daddy is a case in point. He was the youngest naval aviator in the Pacific when he served there, and still young enough to be a vigorous President when the time came.

The consensus on Mr. Dole was that he was not, irascible and funny as he was on the campaign trail, and we returned the Clinton Circus of anti-Vietnam activists to the White House.

It seemed at that time that both matters had been closed. The one old war was too far away for the victory and sacrifice to be particularly relevant, and the other, more recent conflict had sacrifice and victors and not in the right order. It was better left alone.

I was surprised that it became such an emotional issue again, what with Senator Kerry's service in the Swift Boats becoming such a lighting rod in his run against the younger Bush, who served in the conflict with moderate attendance in Texas.

The Florida Election last night made John McCain the front runner for the GOP, and at 71, he is likely to be the one of the last credible Vietnam-era veterans to have a shot at the presidency. I am not much of a betting man, or better said, a successful wagering one.

Still, I will venture to say that after the de facto national primary next week we will be seeing the former A-4 Scooter pilot facing the charismatic Barack Obama in the long summer leading to the national conventions.

It is always risky to discount the Clintons. I will be among the first to honor their tenacity, organization and intelligence. Their great strength of agression rang hollow against Mr. Obama in South Carolina, and a bit embarrassing.

So we will leave the prognostication until after next Tuesday, when things are clearer. But I will offer the opinion that Mitt Romney is an honorable man with great capability to serve, and he is going to lose to the pugnacious pilot on the grounds of his faith.

It ought to be extraneous, but you have seen what they are trying to do to Mr. Obama based on the opinions that have emitted from the pulpit of his church in Chicago.

The whole thing is a little curious. Over my desk is an intricately framed display that I commissioned after a trip to Hanoi in 1995, one in which I played a small supporting role in the ultimate normalization of relations with the pugnacious government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

My framer is an exceptional craftsman from Kazakhstan, a fact I find unexceptional here in Arlington. I asked him to mat the picture of a recent Democratic candidate for President and myself over a heavy slice of a common brick.

I thought it was pretty cool when it was done. The On that muggy June day, Bill Richardson had the sedan pull over so we could see the monument by the lake the Vietnamese had erected to mark the spot of John McCain's shoot down.

The stone features a stylized western pilot hanging in the straps of his parachute, looking down. They say he landed in the water just behind where the monument has been placed. The light was favorable that afternoon, and in our dark suits, I have to say we are both looking pretty good.

Senator McCain has visited the place since, and I must say I was moved.

The brick is marked “F. C. & Cie Hanoi” on its face, a product of a long defunct French company which supplied the materials for the construction of the Maison Central, a jail that would later be called The Hanoi Hilton.

The Communist government was tearing down the place to make room for new development at the time, and the bricks were plentiful. Mine still had plaster and paint on the interior face, and I often wondered where it had been, and what it could tell me if the mute red material could speak.

Whatever. This may be the last campaign with a war hero from Vietnam in it, and the last with a hero and an anti-war Vietnam activist glaring at one another.

I think it is much more likely to be something with a little more nuance.

Copyright 2008 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com

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