Barry the Young or Very Old Politics

By Jim Stergios
June 10th, 2008

I have put out an offer on the table to the Obama campaign: If Barry will support school choice in urban areas across the United States, I will support him financially and vote for him. May be little chance of that. Before the Wisconsin primary he declared that he was open to vouchers, if they worked. (Fair point. I’d like to have that discussion!) The day after the primary he released a two-page statement “repeating his long-standing opposition to vouchers.”

Sometimes Barry seems so “old” politics. His grandstanding letter to the Secretary of Defense on suicide rates among American troops is one such example. It’s been widely reported that suicide rates are up among American troops. It is a real problem, and his questions regarding access to mental health care, training, and changing perceptions about seeking mental health care are all within bounds. But Thomas Sowell makes a darn good point in his piece at townhall.com:

What has not been widely publicized is that this higher suicide rate is still not as high as the suicide rate among demographically comparable civilians.

No one needs to be reminded that suicide is a serious matter, whether among soldiers or civilians… [C]ivilians of the same ages and other demographic characteristics are committing suicide at an even higher rate at home.

The same is true of the media hoopla over homicides by returning soldiers. Again, Sowell:

The New York Times led the way in making homicides committed by returning military veterans a front page story, blaming this on “combat trauma and the stress of deployment.” Yet the New York Post showed that the homicide rate among returning veterans is a fraction of the homicide rate among demographically comparable civilians.

I understand the politics of some folks within the Obama base. But a little less grandstanding please. And fewer stereotypes about the military. That would be a real contribution to our politics.