Once again, I think the Democrats are missing the bigger picture (how people come to know and trust things as meaningful) when they pick up issues with which to criticize Bush. I'm very happy to see the AWOL question on the media agenda and glad to see that the Democrats--not simply the individual candidates--are pursuing it, but the President himself gave the Democrats the best opening for this and no one is picking up on it.
I made arrangements with the military to go to finish my duty in order to go to business school.
?????
This should be the focus
Our military is filled with enlisted personnel who are exchanging service for a chance at an education. The services actively recruit with this equation in mind. And remember how this was such an important and compelling dimension of the Jessica Lynch story: the young woman who joined the military so she could become a kindergarden teacher.
I wonder how many of them would like to "make some arrangements" to leave their duty early in order to go to school?
The story is far bigger than the "was he AWOL yes or no?" question. While I know it has to start somewhere, now is the time to expand the narrative around this issue. There is so much in this one example that could be mined and applicable to question the leadership of this so-called war-time president.
The contrasts between Bush's military experience and that of the young men and women he is now commanding are there to be exploited. Yet everyone is once again caught up in the details and fine points of technical legal definitions in order to prove a point that is far less important as a meaningful issue than the larger context which everyone is simply taking for granted.
This is how the Republicans win, even when the Dems have an issue on them, they continue to spin and frame, capturing the liberal center with its fascination for facts and details and leaving the larger ideological framing free for the taking.
When will the Democrats learn?