Military One-Upmanship

Now that the White House has released a copy of a Jan. 6, 1973, dental exam with a chart of President Bush’s teeth when he was at the Dannelly Field Air National Guard base in Alabama, it must come as a relief to dentists -- and other Americans -- to learn that Bush was taking good care of his choppers as a young man.

This is the so-called best that the still-young presidential race is offering. The White House desperately tries to rebut Democratic charges that the president failed to fulfill his service in the National Guard. Republicans seek to portray Vietnam vet John Kerry, who won a Silver Star, as a traitor for joining the antiwar movement. The loser is the public.

The White House certainly didn’t help itself with its handling of the issue. Bush promised in an interview Sunday with NBC’s Tim Russert to release all documents about his National Guard service, but the White House later waffled. In addition, Bush inflated the rigors of his own service by likening it to that of members of the National Guard currently in Iraq.

Democrats succumbed to retaliation for the draft-dodging charges that Bill Clinton endured during his campaigns. But whom did it help to have Clinton crony and Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe accusing Bush of being “AWOL” during his Guard service? “George Bush,” he said, “never served in our military in our country.” But Bush did serve and was honorably discharged. The only thing ever in question was whether he showed up for the final months of his term.

Lost in the charges is that a president’s use of military force can’t be accurately predicted on the basis of his military record. Clinton didn’t serve in the military but sent troops into major interventions abroad, including in Bosnia and Kosovo. Bush has sent troops to fight wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Democrats seek to undermine Bush’s credibility by bringing up Vietnam, but they’re fueling a political war of mutual self-destruction, as are Republicans. “Ultimately, it is Kerry himself who will have to explain to his fellow veterans why he chose a path that dishonors their service,” thunders the conservative National Review’s Mackubin Thomas Owens. The Heritage Foundation posts an Ann Coulter column saying a Kerry supporter, Vietnam vet and former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, “did not give his limbs for his country” because the grenade that injured him was not hurled in combat. How absurd and insulting to all veterans.

As long as there are baby boomers running for the nation’s highest office, there will be questions about candidates’ service or lack of it during the Vietnam era. What ought to matter are what candidates propose for today’s troops and what presidents do with them in order to avoid new Vietnams.