My Echo Chamber

As the John Kerry wrapped-up the Democratic nomination, I looked forward to an examination of the Vietnam era. I have always had an uneasy feeling the winners of the conflict, the war protestors, wrote the history as is the spoils of such resolution. Now the political process appears to be delving into the nitty gritty of that era.

Senator Kerry (and I presume he will keep his seat even if he loses in November) chose to enlist. Many others did not. This decision is being played out on the campaign trail where the Kerry campaign uses his service as a political weapon to attack the President and Vice President while simultaneously using this same service as an aegis to protect the presumptive Democratic nominee from serious questions about his associations and behaviors after the war.

Are we attacking one man’s patriotism, and by extension his character, by asking him to explain his post-war actions, as the Kerry camp, would have us believe? Or does his character need to be questioned based on his actions and associations after the war, as the Bush Administration would have us believe?

It is on this political and intellectual battlefield where I hope to have my doubts about recent history answered, and it is here where I will judge whether the elite media and culture can allow an open and honest review of the war in Vietnam and its effects upon our society.