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Tanks For The Memories
Tanks for the Memories Cute... Next to John Kerry, Michael Dukakis was a hawk. "But I was in âNam! Donât you question my patriotism!" BY BRENDAN MINITER Wednesday, March 17, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST John Kerry is right about one thing: Heâs no Michael Dukakis. A look at the record shows that in his bid for the White House in 1988, Massachusettsâ then-governor ran to Mr. Kerryâs right on national defense. Mr. Kerry has not repudiated his opposition to the weapon systems Mr. Dukakis promised to support. Everyone remembers the pathetic image of Mr. Dukakis riding around in a tank while wearing a goofy helmet. But few remember why he staged that photo-op in the first place. Mr. Dukakis was fighting to overcome the impression that he had what Henry Kissinger called a "visceral, negative" attitude toward the military--a fatal problem for a Cold War presidential candidate. Open mouth, insert Abrams. Being part of the Democratic Party was a hindrance. Many Democrats spent much of the 1980s fighting for the nuclear-freeze movement. Mr. Kerry joined the movement in 1982, during his successful campaign to become Mr. Dukakisâs lieutenant governor, and he used many of its appendage groups in Massachusetts when he sought an open Senate seat in 1984. These were the intellectuals behind the rabble in the streets who protested things like deploying nuclear missiles to Turkey to counter the Soviets SS-23s. I got hassled by peacenicks in Hannover back in â87. Young and naive guy I was at the time, I praised Reagan and the missile buildup during a demonstration. The Polizei âescortedâ me out of the protest zone. Thanks, guys! But they did much more than oppose building or deploying nukes. They believed so strongly in "mutually assured destruction"--neither side would start a nuclear war if it was clear neither side could win such a war--that they also opposed just about any weapon system that would give America a tactical advantage over the Soviets. Thatâs why President Reaganâs Strategic Defense Initiative (which opponents derided as "star wars") was so vehemently opposed. And itâs why Mr. Kerry and others voted against funding Trident II submarine launchers, stealth bombers and even the M1 Abrams Tank. ...and just about every other DoD initiative. Mr. Dukakis understood the political reality that he had to close his partyâs credibility gap on defense without alienating politicians like Mr. Kerry. So he tried to have his Oh, the irony of that name! But the bulk of his military program called for spending more money on "traditional" military hardware. He wanted more tanks, not more nukes. To pull off this feat, Mr. Dukakis drew close to "Defense Democrats" like Rep. Les Aspin and Sen. Sam Nunn, then chairmen of the Armed Services Committees in their respective chambers. He wanted to show that he wasnât the equivocating "liberal," Vice President George Bush said he was, but in fact had the support of hawks within his party. On Sept. 11, 1988, a group of Defense Democrats made a public show of meeting Mr. Dukakis to press him on, among other things, dropping the "ifs" and "buts" when voicing support for stealth bombers and Trident II missiles. After the meeting they publicly proclaimed him to be sound on defense. The next day Mr. Dukakis went into the tank for the famous photo. Lest anyone forget... The voters understood that Mr. Dukakis wasnât really a hawk, and he became a laughingstock for trying to convince them otherwise. On Election Day Mr. Bush trounced him. Now that defense is again central to the presidential campaign, Mr. Kerry will have to explain why voters should trust him to combat terrorism when, in the face of the Soviet threat, he favored an even weaker military than Mr. Dukakis did. And weâll be laughing once more, in November. Posted by: Raj 2004-03-17 |
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