Amidst the thrust-and-parry of this election’s campaign duel, the dirtiest swipe was dealt by The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth TV spots, which sought to discredit John Kerry’s service in Vietnam.
The Swift Boat smear job, designed to preempt any attack on President Bush’s questionable military record, was itself an attack on the bedrock tenets of Kerry’s political resume – patriotic duty and military performance. Never mind that Kerry volunteered to serve his country. Forget that he was thrice wounded and earned several purple hearts and silver stars. After all, he had the audacity to forsake his country by testifying before Senate and abetting legislation that led to the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.
Wha? This was a bad thing?
Because the ads so stridently criticize Kerry’s anti-Vietnam activism, perhaps it follows that they also oppose Senate’s subsequent recommendation that the U.S. secede from Vietnam. Whose logic is more reductive – theirs or mine?
The Swift Boat ads would have us all believe that anyone protesting war crimes committed by his own government is thereby unfit to serve as president. But the valor extant in Kerry’s protest is precisely what we need from our president. We don’t need a duplicitous co-conspirator. We need a leader who is able to recognize when we’ve strayed as a nation.
Why Kerry’s critics fail to acknowledge the direct continuum of valor between his actions during and after the war is unclear. What is clear is that they’re hell bent on distorting the historical accuracy of a truly heroic act. But the heroism Kerry displayed over thirty years ago is irrefutable. Point is, his evolvement from a patriotic soldier to a patriotic dissenter exhibits his consummate sense of leadership and honor. Those who brand Kerry a vacillating ivory tower liberal with no understanding of political reality need to recognize his “waffling” as a sign of strength and not weakness. These critics have created a dichotomy between the patriotism of Kerry’s tour as a soldier and the perceived heresy of his turn as a rational protester. How anybody could ever see these two notions as mutually independent of each other is mind-blowing.
It’s easy to reduce issues to a system of binary opposites – right or wrong, good or evil, yay or nay. It’s less easy to run for president while acknowledging the complexity of most political issues. Kerry doesn’t pretend to have the antidote to right every wrong in the world. This alone imbues him with the kind of candor that’s beyond most politicians.
What makes the Swift Boat ads even more deplorable are the revelations in the new documentary “Going Upriver.” Adapted from the book “Tour of Duty” by Douglas Brinkley, the film highlights Kerry’s accomplishments as a soldier and also as chief spokesperson for Vietnam Veterans Against the War. While director George Butler is a friend of Kerry’s, he’s put together a film that’s less of a Michael Moore-ish polemic and more of a historical record.
What’s surprising is how the movie tacitly draws a connection between the Swift Boat ads and Nixon’s political strong-arming more than thirty years ago. After Kerry testified before the Senate, a tape- recorded conversation surfaced between Nixon and some of his colleagues. They mention John Kerry by name and ask if any dirt can be found on the soldier-activist. No dirt was found, so Nixon organized a counsel of soldiers called Vietnam Vets for a Just Cause to counter Kerry and the other vets against the war. Spearheading the Just Cause was Lt. John O’neill, who recently co-authored “Unfit for Command” and also served as chief spokesman for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In 1972, John Kerry summarily dismantled O’neill during a roundtable debate on national television.
Hmm. One-sided debate. Sound familiar?
To say that the Swift Boat Veterans aren’t under anybody’s political thumb is probably a bit naive. But that’s neither here nor there. What does matter is the prevailing depiction of Kerry in “Going Upriver.” It’s that of a man of action, an oratorical healer who eloquently voiced the varied grievances of his fellow soldiers. It’s that of a man who, during Vietnam, struggled to reconcile his courage with the confusion of the war. In “Going Upriver,” John Kerry embodies the sum of what we should expect from our president.
Brad Peters is a junior in English. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
