I have been think lately that it was very lucky for the US and the world that Democrats were in charge during WWII.
3 years and 8 months after Pearl Harbor, we celebrated VJ Day.
June 9th, 2005 will be 3 years and 9 months after September 11th, and Osama bin Laden looked too healthy for my tastes on his latest video this past fall.
Truman made his name during WWII going after a Democratic Administration's War Department to fight war profiteering. Where is today's republican version of Truman going after Halliburton and KBR? Oh, I forgot, "thou shall not speak ill of any fellow republican" even when it cost American lives and money.
In WWII, the US went from having a small army in relative terms to being the strongest nation on earth, successfully fighting a global war on two fronts to conclusion. Today we cannot even get enough armor for humvees or body armor. Our troops are spread thin and the situation is getting worse.
After WWII, the US was fairly magnanimous in victory, helping to make former enemies into successful allies. We helped set up an international system that brought relative peace and prosperity to a significant part of the globe. Does anyone have confidence that the Bush administration will leave Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East better off in the long run? It might still be possible, but new management is obviously needed.
It is the republicans who constantly remind us this is a global war on terror, that this is the most significant threat the US has faced, etc. So where are the "I want you posters"? Where are the war bonds? Even bugs bunny says, "buy war bonds" at the end of some of his cartoons from WWII days! Why is Bush not getting all his rich buddies to buy and promote investing in war bonds patriotic reasons? Oh, I forgot, that might give us a clear number how much the war costs. I do not even need to repeat the recruiting issue, it has been covered and everyone better be aware of the current crisis by now.
So thank god we did not have people like Bush and Co. in charge back then, or the US might have fit into Orwell's 1984 right on time or ahead of schedule