Trolling For Veterans
The South Carolina Republican primary is a crucial battleground for faltering GOP front-runner George W. Bush and his now-formidable challenger, John McCain. In their scramble for votes, an obvious place to start is with South Carolina's veterans.
Perhaps it's the weather, perhaps it's the golf; for some reason, the state has more veterans, per capita, than any other -- about 400,000 to be precise. But veterans aren't necessarily predictable voters. Nationally, they voted for Clinton twice, and while they care about defense policy and the Veterans' Administration, they also care about the same bread and butter issues civilians worry about.
And in South Carolina, voters don't register by party -- that means, in essence, everyone's an independent. Veterans don't necessarily lean Republican; which means that both McCain and Bush have to dig all the deeper to secure support from any and all veterans they find.
On paper, John McCain would seem to enjoy an insuperable advantage among veterans. His own life story is stirring -- a family history of service in the Navy, a career as a Navy pilot, and five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
McCain has always given military affairs considerable attention in his stump speech. Thursday, he spoke in Charleston, S.C., standing on a dock with an aircraft carrier in the background. He covered familiar territory: "$230 million for a helicopter carrier the Navy says it doesn't need, planes they don't need, all kinds of pork barrel spending, and meanwhile, we've got 12,000 proud, brave young men and women, our enlisted personnel, on food stamps. That's a disgrace."
He often berates Mr. Clinton for appointing a secretary of state and a secretary of defense who have never worn the uniform of the United States. He talks about improving health care for veterans, whom he says aren't being taken care of. "I promise to change that when I am President of the United States," McCain insisted Thursday.
More emotionally, but just as effectively, he often talks about meeting veterans who read his book, veterans who served with his father or grandfather. And he talks about the "greatest generation," which fought and won World War II and how important it is to honor them. He asks veterans in the audience to stand, and most of them flush with pride, and stand a little straighter as the room applauds them.
It's all very powerful stuff, which is why Bush, unwilling to concede a single voter, repeats a lot of it. His own tepid service in the Air National Guard can't begin to match McCain's background. But he's determined to show veterans that his heart is in the right place. "We're going into battle!" he cried as he stood in front of the courthouse Thursday in Sumter, S.C. We're going into political battle!"
He stood with six Medal of Honor winners, five generals, and representatives from two veterans' groups, all of whom had endorsed him "I feel like I'm already in the situation room," Bush joked in an almost "Gee whiz, isn't this neat!" tone. His speech offered these familiar themes: "It's inexcusable to have people on food stamps, and I will not only restore our morale by increasing pay, but I intend to restore morale by clarifying our mission." (Whatever that means.) "We must have a commander-in-chief who understands the role of the military We will have a Veterans Administration that is staffed by veterans."
These are all pretty safe things to say -- it's a bit like saying you're against world hunger. There's a sharper note to the military issue, which is getting louder now that Bush and McCain are tussling over South Carolina.
That's the argument over experience -- the implied insult (which McCain denies he's implying) when he says "I need no on-the-job training. I am fully prepared to lead and fully prepared to be the commander in chief." Or when he warns darkly, "This is a very dangerous world we still live in."
The allure of McCain's military record, as well as his foreign policy experience as a U.S. senator, is seductive for voters who may feel they don't know Bush well, and aren't sure if he's ready for an international stage.
Bush often responds to these remarks with pleasant ambiguities like, "It's important to have a commander in chief who respects the men and women in uniform and who in turn earns the respect of the men and women in uniform, and that's the kind of commander in chief I'll be." But he's not taking McCain's appeal to veterans for granted. He's looking to persuade veterans that maybe McCain isn't exactly whom they want.
In New Hampshire, only half of the state's veterans voted for McCain, so he hardly has a lock on them. According to Bush organizers in South Carolina, he already has plenty of support among veterans. If he wants to win more, he doesn't have to re-make himself as Mr. Military. He need only recognize that they have more on their minds than a war record. As Bush himself said Thursday, "There's a big difference between someone who has a good military career and someone who is ready to lead the country."