Aside from the obvious October Surprise hopes and anxieties, I think the brouhaha over Kerry's statement is that it hit a bit too close to home. Buried in The antiwar GIs at Salon, is the single sentence:
Yet the silent resistance runs deep, Madden believes. "It is more than anybody would ever admit," he explains. "A lot of people are in the military for life, because of their economic situation. But their hearts are against the war."
... because of their economic situation.
And how, in the US, does the story go? If you get an education you get a good job. If you don't.... Well, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. In reality, while an education certainly is no guarantee, the fact is without one there are not a lot of alternatives.
Since, beginning with the Reagan 'trickle-down' voodoo-economics years, the gap has grown so remarkably between wealthy and those who aren't, there are plenty of desperate, hardworking poor in the US. When Kerry accidentally exhorted the crowd to do well in school or risk taking a life-threatening, futile, dangerous job it was the truth.
As a nation, are we ready to stare that one in the face?
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