Too Bad

Not to knock the military service of the President, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter (who at least had the good sense to join the submarine force), etc. but I think this is a real shame:

President Bush’s top Iraq war commander said Sunday that as far as he knows, his command performances now and in the future will be strictly military, not political.

In fact, Army Gen. David Petraeus cited the words of Civil War-era Gen. William T. Sherman in declaring he has no interest in shedding his uniform and running for the White House, as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower did 55 years ago.

“None,” Petraeus replied, when asked on “Fox News Sunday” if he had an interest in running.

“I have great respect for those who do choose to serve our country in that way. I’ve chosen to serve our country in uniform,” Petraeus said from Baghdad.

“And I think that General Sherman had it right when he gave what is now commonly referred to as a Shermanesque response when asked a similar question.”

A leading Union general in the war, Sherman said in a telegram to the Republican National Convention in 1884, when he was being urged to run for president, “I will not accept if nominated, and I will not serve if elected,” according to “The Yale Book of Quotations.”

George H. W. Bush was the last Commander-in-Chief to have seen combat while in military service. Prior to him, it was Gerald Ford . Of the current crop of candidates, only Duncan Hunter (Ranger service during the Vietnam Conflict) and John McCain (Naval Aviator, POW during the Vietnam conflict) have any type of combat service, and the number of candidates with any military service is disturbingly low.

While military service is neither the make nor break characteristic of any candidate, during a time of conflict as the nation finds itself in now, I believe it is important for the troops who are placing themselves in harm's way to be able to look respect the President's decisions, to know he/she understands what he is asking of them. My father wasn't a great or wise man, nor even a good father, but one thing he did say that I have found useful as I have been placed in leadership roles in the Navy is "Never ask a man to do something you haven't already done or wouldn't be willing to do." How has the candidate you are supporting sacrificed for the country, and is that sacrifice on the level with the men and women who will be looking at him/her directly for leadership?