Civil Rights: Righting a Wrong

In the United States, the office of President is packed with symbolism and meaning. For instance, we cannot escape the increasingly troubling reality that the President has always been a white male. But lest we blind ourselves to the easy scapegoating of white males, let's recall briefly many of the important barriers that have been broken through the office of the Presidency (every one of these "glass ceilings" were not without controversy and even violence, as one by one they were shattered):

* First frontier President: Andrew Jackson
* First President not a British descendant: Martin Van Buren
* First bachelor President: James Buchanan
* First anti-slavery President: Abraham Lincoln
* First catholic President: John Kennedy
* First divorced President: Ronald Reagan

And so it goes. Change does happen in the U.S. And often it comes at too slow a pace. But it does happen, and more successfully and with surprisingly less violence than in the rest of the world.

We can break another barrier in history in November. It may be our only chance to right a wrong, and finally honor a group of Americans that has been mistreated for too long. We will bring healing to our land, by elevating this person to the most powerful office on earth.

I am talking about the Vietnam Veteran, who has suffered too much for over 40 years. Today they are aging into a valued elder generation of great Americans. The Greatest Generation of the 30s and 40s is giving way to the 60s generation of Vietnam Vets, Civil Rights and peace activists. It was truly a great generation which has not been completely represented yet in the White House.

True, we have had two Baby-Boomer Presidents, Clinton and G.W. Bush. But, as typical Baby-Boomers they were both rather self-absorbed and narrowly-focused. Both managed basically to skip the Sixties. With a Rhodes Scholarship on the one hand, and a National Guard tour on the other, they were able to keep a safe distance from the pivotal events of their generation.

But now we have a chance, perhaps our only chance, finally to heal the divisions of the Sixties by putting into office an honorable man, a bold maverick that charts his own course, and whose life mission has been to represent real people in Washington, and not just one political party. Fortune has smiled upon us and allowed this man to make it through a partisan primary process, to a point where he can be elevated to the Presidency.

Only once in two or three generations, do we have a chance to elect such transcendant leaders as this: rarely do we get our Teddy Roosevelt, our Dwight Eisenhower, giants of history that tower above the political parties.

I am talking about Senator John McCain, of course.

Look for one compelling reason to support him, and it is this above all others: It is time we honored our Vietnam Vets by electing one of their own to the Presidency. We have had our Baby Boomers. Now let's have a mature, seasoned leader. Let's have an adult for a change. Let's honor the generation that paid its dues to be Americans, with its own blood, and in return was treated shamefully.

It may be our only chance to so honor our Vietnam Vets. I want a Vietnam Vet in the White House! It is time.