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johnkerryisdangerousforamerica.blogspot.com
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UNFIT:
taking the measure of a would-be commander-in-chief
WHY JOHN KERRY IS DANGEROUS FOR AMERICA- #2-understanding the job description
- by Mia T, 5.17.04
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"When bill clinton left office, not one young American in uniform was dying in a war anywhere in this world."
--John Kerry
- by Mia T, 5.17.04
uspend disbelief for a minute. Pretend Kerry's dumb attempt at demagoguery is a serious pronouncement of policy. What is Kerry's message? Is the premise true? Is the argument valid? And most important, what does it tell us about Kerry's fitness to serve?
Kerry's message is implied and is threefold:
- There exists an inverse relationship between the success of a commander-in-chief and the number of soldier deaths occurring under his watch.
- By this measure, bill clinton was a successful commander-in-chief and George Bush is a failure.
- John Kerry would operate under the bill clinton model and would, therefore, be a success.
ANALYZING KERRY'S ANALYSISSimply put, Kerry's analysis suffers from a "shallowness," "an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment" and critical thinking. (YOO-HOO! Nancy Pelosi)
Kerry's premise is false, and notwithstanding this, his thesis is easily disproved empirically.
FALSE PREMISE
- "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution
According to the U.S. Constitution, preserving, protecting and defending America is what the presidency is all about.
From this it follows that the measure of the success of a commander-in-chief it is not inversely related to number of soldier deaths that result from a commander-in-chief protecting America. Rather, it is the number of deaths -- both soldier and non-soldier -- that are caused by a commander-in-chief failing to protect America.
It is important to note that not all such deaths necessarily occur under that failed president's watch.
For example, not all deaths caused by clinton's repeated failure to act to protect America from the terrorists occurred under clinton's watch, witness the 2,899 deaths on September 11, 2001, and the ever-expanding number in the seemingly endless aftermath.
Achieving a low soldier mortality rate with a policy of artful battlefield and responsibility avoidance is hardly the measure of commander-in-chief success.
Kerry's premise is, therefore, false, and exposes both Kerry's fundamental misunderstanding of the job of commander-in-chief and the lethal danger to a post-9/11 America that a Commander-in-Chief Kerry would pose.
THESIS EASILY DISPROVED EMPIRICALLY
Notwithstanding this, Kerry's thesis, itself, is belied by history. The obvious counterexamples: the presidencies of two of our most successful commanders-in-chief, Abe Lincoln, 562,130 deaths and FDR, 408,306.
Even if we apply the too-cute-by-half clintonesque Kerry semantic technicality, and limit the death count to those deaths coincident with the commander-in-chief's exit, the FDR counterexample still stands.
- ASIDE: These transparent word games of Kerry and clinton derive from the same (if geographically disparate) provincial arrogance rooted in stupidity.
Kerry's pronouncement, therefore, is more than simple... or even stupid... demagoguery. Kerry's pronouncement exposes Kerry's lack of historical perspective, Kerry's poor judgment, Kerry's critical-thinking deficiency, Kerry's fundamental misunderstanding of the job of commander-in-chief. It is a stark warning of the lethal danger to a post-9/11 America that a Commander-in-Chief Kerry would pose.
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"At the time, '96, he [bin Laden] had committed no crime against America, so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him, though we knew he wanted to commit crimes against America."
"The instant that second plane hit, I said to the person with whom I was speaking, 'Bin Laden did this.' I knew immediately. I know what this network can do."
"The War on Terror is less... is occasionally military but it's primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation."
"The Bush Administration is so entralled by the idea of preemption and American military might. This is the consequence of the policy that regards legitimacy as largely a product of force and victory as primarily a triump of arms...
We truly should go to war as the last resort."
Both Kerry and clinton fail to understand that:
- a terrorist war requires only one consenting player
- defining bin Laden's acts of war as "crimes'' is a dangerous, anachronistic, postmodern conceit (It doesn't depend on what the meaning of the word "war" is) and amounts to surrender
- preemption serves a necessary, critically protective, as well as offensive function in any war on terror.
I urge anyone planning to vote for John Kerry to rethink, to reconsider. Your children's lives, if not civilization, itself, may just depend on the decision you make in that voting booth in November.
copyright Mia T 2004- #2-understanding the job description
