The Hill News

Felt that Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (D) lost his presidential campaign â€" and I campaigned relentlessly for him in New Hampshire in 2004 after Wes Clark dropped out â€" because he was successful as a soldier and proud of it. Had he stridden resolutely to the podium with a metal leg and a cane when Gen. Clark introduced him at the Democratic Convention, he might have had it. Success meaning just that: Like Arjuna in battle, he saw the eye of the enemy and hit the target.

Not to cast aspersions, but so many who fought honorably and were later successful in politics â€" Jack Kennedy, H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, McCain â€" would not have met the Arjuna standard or those of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff. To those who flew fighters out of Southeast Asia and remained alive to talk about it today on the History Channel, the only course was to hit the target or die trying. Nothing else matters to samurai. We love our military, especially those who sank the boat, we! re gunned down or crashed the plane. I take this to mean that we love our military but are afraid of them. Until everything gets unraveled and then we call them up. But when we do it maybe brings clarity of the heart. Eisenhower, for example, brought America to accept the conquest. The war was over. We won. Let’s build on the confidence and success that comes with victory.

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