I’ve been obsessing over John McCain’s incoherent opposition to a modernized GI Bill for veterans, so I was especially pleased to see Barack Obama, at a campaign stop in West Virginia, help elevate the issue and hammer McCain for his misguided position. From the speech:
“When our troops go into battle, they serve no faction or party; they represent no race or region. They are simply Americans. They serve and fight and bleed together out of loyalty not just to a place on a map or a certain kind of people, but to a set of ideals that we have been striving for since the first shots rang out at Lexington and Concord – the idea that America could be governed not by men, but by laws; that we could be equal in the eyes of those laws; that we could be free to say what we want and write what want and worship as we please; that we could have the right to pursue our individual dreams but the obligation to help our fellow citizens pursue theirs.
“[W]hen our loved ones do come home, it is time for the United States of America to offer this generation of returning heroes the same thanks we offered that earlier, Greatest Generation – by giving every veteran the same opportunity that my grandfather had under the GI Bill.
“There is no reason we shouldn’t pass the 21st Century GI Bill that is being debated in Congress right now. It was introduced by my friend Senator Jim Webb, a Marine who served as Navy Secretary under President Ronald Reagan. His plan has widespread support from Republicans and Democrats. It would provide every returning veteran with a real chance to afford a college education, and it would not harm retention.
“I have great respect for John McCain’s service to this country and I know he loves it dearly and honors those who serve. But he is one of the few Senators of either party who oppose this bill because he thinks it’s too generous. I couldn’t disagree more. At a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to pursue the American Dream.”
Nicely done. McCain has gotten a free ride on this, and Obama’s criticism should elevate the matter considerably.
The McCain campaign quickly responded: “It is absurd for Barack Obama to question John McCain’s commitment to America’s veterans, when Obama himself voted against funding our nation’s veterans, and troops in the field during a time of war. Voters need a leader with uncompromising judgment, and will reject Barack Obama’s decision to vote against funding our troops in the field, after he said it would be irresponsible to do so.”
Good. This is what campaigns are all about.
You’ll notice, of course, that the McCain campaign’s response didn’t come close to responding to Obama’s point. They didn’t even try. I don’t blame them, necessarily, since I can’t think of a good defense for McCain opposing a bipartisan measure to expand educational benefits for veterans, either.
As for Obama voting against the “troops in the field during a time of war,” it’s worth taking a closer look at the accusation. When Obama voted this way (along with most Dems, including Hillary Clinton), it was the only option available to war opponents to change the administration’s policy. Obama’s position was endorsed by most Americans — polls showed strong support in favor of cutting off funding. McCain, obviously, disagreed.
But before McCain gets too self-righteous about supporting the troops in harm’s way, we might want to consider how McCain felt when Bill Clinton was president and McCain didn’t care for his military policies.
For example, when Republicans didn’t like the conflict in Somalia in 1993, the congressional GOP decided Congress had all kinds of authority to intervene and shape U.S. military policy, whether the president liked it or not. On Oct. 19, 1993, John McCain argued that Congress had the power to force Clinton to begin an “immediate, orderly withdrawal from Somalia.” He added, “[I]f we do not do that and other Americans die, other Americans are wounded, other Americans are captured because we stay too long — longer than necessary — then I would say that the responsibilities for that lie with the Congress of the United States who did not exercise their authority under the Constitution of the United States.”
What’s more, McCain introduced a measure to cut off funding for the troops while they were in harm’s way. He later changed his mind, but McCain nevertheless argues now that anyone who even considers such a move is untrustworthy.
So, what do we have here? The McCain campaign can’t defend its own position on troop benefits, and is blasting Obama for pursuing a military policy option that McCain himself embraced a decade earlier.
Beats debating pins and pastors, doesn’t it?