In the editorial “Bush and the National Guard,” the Tribune warns us to “Be on the alert for signs of raging hypocrisy from people who held different ethical opinions of Clinton’s wartime decisions than they now espouse toward Bush.”
There is no hypocrisy. There is a qualitative difference between the way the two men responded to an unpopular, unwinnable, unnecessary war that took the lives of more than 58,000 Americans and many more Vietnamese.
Bill Clinton was open about his opposition to the war and worked to avoid becoming a part of it. George W. Bush joined the National Guard knowing he would not be called up and today is unable to prove that he fulfilled his obligations.
Clinton was denounced by his Republican enemies as a draft dodger when he acted on principle and did nothing illegal. The real hypocrisy comes from those who excoriated Clinton and now say questions about Bush are unfair.
