With that ominous line, the
NY Times WIR opens an article about another subject we know all about, and the public is catching up on... the Draft. Saying, 'yeah, I already knew that' doesn't begin to scratch the surface of the very real angst out there with voters. The 5% of political junkies have been talking about it for months, but now it's conversation everywhere.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In the worried steel town of Weirton, W.Va., last week, the first question from the crowd that came out to hear Senator John Edwards was not about the economy, tariffs or health care. It was about the draft: Is a new one coming?
The Democratic candidate for vice president was unequivocal. Not in a Kerry-Edwards administration, he replied. But Erika Lontz, a 19-year-old college sophomore, was not reassured. "Students worry about it a lot," she said later. "With the way the war is going, how could you not?"
Though President Bush and Senator John Kerry talk about it in only the most glancing ways - the president pledged to defeat terrorism with "an all-volunteer army" during Thursday's presidential debate - many people across the country are wondering just who will fight the nation's wars.
There is good reason to ask. By most accounts, the military, particularly the Army, has been spread thin by America's global commitments, and signs of strain are mounting.
As a political issue, the draft and stem cells are two of Kerry's major unplayed cards (a third is health care). If he were George Bush (and thank God he's not), he'd be repeating this over and over and over and...
Each alone would be enough to get 18 year olds to the polls. Together, Kerry might just add in the elusive 'women's vote' whatever that is (I think it's political short-hand for women being smarter than men; the proof would be in the way they lean Dem). Oh, and the fact that I have an 18 year old son is not lost on me. Nor is is lost on the parents we know who are only now beginning to pay attention.
Note that any substantive discussion of the draft would be welcome. It may be unlikely, for example, or only possible with a 'national service' requirement. My point, however, is that it is a hot button political topic extraordinaire.
