Pander Of The Week: June 27, 2007

As sometimes happens when I consider a "Pander of the Week," there are so many competing proposals, statements and initiatives that deserve to be mocked that I have a hard time settling on one. But I've finally made a choice. I'm mocking Vietnam veterans.

Well, not really Vietnam veterans. I'm calling out Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D-Calif.) and the other co-sponsors of H.R. 189, a "Sense of the House" resolution to establish a "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day" on March 30.

The House passed this resolution Monday night, 381-0. So the House has said that America should welcome home Vietnam veterans, although the House did not see fit to actually create an official homecoming day.

I just want to point out to Sanchez and the resolution's 53 other co-sponsors that the Vietnam War ended, for the United States, in 1973. It's now 34 years later that Congress is finally getting around to honoring the hundreds of thousands of men and women who served their country in that tragic conflict. The ones who are still alive to see that tribute, that is.

Let me put some perspective on this: More than 140 million Americans are under the age of 34, out of a population of roughly 302 million, according to 2006 data from the Census Department. What they know about Vietnam is from history books.