The editorial, ”Clinton and a generation`s burden” (Feb. 15), which addressed the issue of Democratic front-runner Bill Clinton`s possible avoidance of military induction, skirted the real question raised by this revelation. That question is character.
While it is true that Vietnam`s societal wounds have not fully healed and the American electorate may be forgiving, it remains that the subject of a political candidate`s character is of vital concern to the public.
As a member of the electorate who served during the war, I am neither blinded to flaws nor tempted to hurl stones. However, I do expect a truthful response and reasonable explanation from a non-veteran who aspires to the presidency as to why he did not serve during a national crisis.
After listening to Gov. Clinton`s reply to the Wall Street Journal`s charges, I have decided to withhold my vote for a more deserving candidate.
I find it ironic that Clinton, an Oxford Rhodes Scholar, failed to heed the Shakespearean warning written in ”Henry V”: ”And gentlemen in England now abed, Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap. . . .”
