The Race is not always to the Swift...

Swift boats. Texas National Guard service or lack of same. The presidential race batters against the unyielding shore of events almost forty years in the past. Not to belabor the metaphor, but somebody is going to sink in this exchange. In conversations and reading many sources, I find nobody who is impressed with the tactics of exhumation. Nobody cares, outside of the fiercely partisan on both sides. I think of this brouhaha in light of the political tactic of "strengthening the base." Those who hate one candidate and love another will of course follow their inclinations, and argue the facts that suit them.

Where does this leave the vast, amorphous middle of the electorate? I truly do not believe that most voters in the United States are irretrievably committed to either of the major party candidates. I certainly am not. I have many issues with George Bush, from the huge deficit partly resulting from his tax cuts and unabated spending, to the Patriot Act and all its ramifications, to the whole Iraq mess. Iraq has always been a mess. The European powers patched it together after World War I without regard for anything but their own business interests. President Bush has constantly revised the reasons for invading Iraq, and none of them convince me that we were justified in what we did, and most especially in how we did it.

But John Kerry is a featureless shadow on my political radar screen. Outside of the obsessive military jousting, he promises all sorts of fine sounding outcomes of his putative presidency, but I have seen no concrete proposals for accomplishing any of them.

I read some of the 263-page Kerry-Edwards book on their proposals. I couldn't sustain much interest because the plans were so general in description. In outlining plans for the military, the book gives a laundry list of increases in manpower and technology to strengthen our forces. I kept wondering how to pay for this, and how to persuade more young persons to volunteer for the military.

I suspect that either side will end up activating the draft. But that will change the whole context of public sentiment regarding military actions.

With massive deficits and a slowing economy, I doubt that either applicant for Chief Executive will get all their proposals passed.

Finally, the deployment of intelligence gathering against our own citizens, with streamlined procedures and back door denial of habeas corpus is downright scary. The Supreme Court has at least temporarily blunted holding suspects with no charge or right to counsel, but I don't see that the Bush Administration is ready to back off on aggressive steps that weaken constitutional provisions. Incidentally, in going over the published judgments by various Justices, I was amazed to see that Clarence Thomas thought the Court did not go far enough in barring government meddling with habeas and other rights of the accused. Just shows that you need to be careful in assuming how any one decision will come down by any of the Justices.

Hell, I don't know who I will vote for in November, and once again I will be faced with choosing the lesser of two evils. Ain't the democratic process grand?