Another Republican for Kerry

Remember when I was thinking about Ike a coupla weeks ago? Here's what his son, John Eisenhower, said in today's New Hampshire Union Leader:

Why I will vote for John Kerry for President

The Presidential election to be held this coming Nov. 2 will be one of extraordinary importance to the future of our nation. The outcome will determine whether this country will continue on the same path it has followed for the last 3 1⁄2 years or whether it will return to a set of core domestic and foreign policy values that have been at the heart of what has made this country great.

Now more than ever, we voters will have to make cool judgments, unencumbered by habits of the past. Experts tell us that we tend to vote as our parents did or as we “always have.” We remained loyal to party labels. We cannot afford that luxury in the election of 2004. There are times when we must break with the past, and I believe this is one of them.

As son of a Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, it is automatically expected by many that I am a Republican. For 50 years, through the election of 2000, I was. With the current administration’s decision to invade Iraq unilaterally, however, I changed my voter registration to independent, and barring some utterly unforeseen development, I intend to vote for the Democratic Presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry.

The fact is that today’s “Republican” Party is one with which I am totally unfamiliar. To me, the word “Republican” has always been synonymous with the word “responsibility,” which has meant limiting our governmental obligations to those we can afford in human and financial terms. Today’s whopping budget deficit of some $440 billion does not meet that criterion.

Responsibility used to be observed in foreign affairs. That has meant respect for others. America, though recognized as the leader of the community of nations, has always acted as a part of it, not as a maverick separate from that community and at times insulting towards it. Leadership involves setting a direction and building consensus, not viewing other countries as practically devoid of significance. Recent developments indicate that the current Republican Party leadership has confused confident leadership with hubris and arrogance.

[a few paragraphs snipped here]

I celebrate, along with other Americans, the diversity of opinion in this country. But let it be based on careful thought. I urge everyone, Republicans and Democrats alike, to avoid voting for a ticket merely because it carries the label of the party of one’s parents or of our own ingrained habits.

Makes me think again about that Garrison Keillor piece, too.

Via Rox.

Comments

[Tonya]

This is excellent! (Eisenhower was president when I was born). I'd love for my brother [and husband] to read this, but they are so pro-Bush and anti-ME these days, at least in the political arena, that I'm sure they'd bot come up with some ugly reason that even THIS is "drivel". Sigh.

[Jack]

Ok, here is what I have to say about this. To the best of my knowledge "Little Ike" is getting by on his name and not any special qualifications to assess and judge the candidates.

Now it could be that I am wrong here, but I don't see anything special about his POV. It doesn't add anything to the discussion.

As it is about 50 years or so since his father's administration I am not surprised that he would see differences in the party.

During his father's day Blacks were still fighting for civil rights and there were quotas on Jews being accepted to schools. In short, the 50's were not some happy-go-lucky time for many people.

P.S. Don't for McCarthy and his witch hunt. So Eisenhower is entitled to his opinion just like anyone else is. The difference is that most of us could not get our opinion piece published as easily as he did.