I must ask, why? Why are you running to be the President of the United States? I watched several clips of your interview with Dana Bash, and I was not impressed. To me, you looked furious at having to be there and absolutely uninterested in any actual questions. Your “baby nieces” made you seem a bit excited, and you spoke in excruciating detail about breakfast with them, but that has no bearing whatsoever on your would-be role as President and Commander-in-Chief.
This Op-Ed author’s Identity has been confirmed but they wish to remain anonymous
So, since everyone has a question they would like to ask, here is mine. Why should I trust YOU, as Commander-in-Chief, with the life of the person I carried under my heart for 9 months, MY child?
I am the daughter, sister, widow, and mother of veterans or active-duty service members, so this is the first question and, all things being equal, the deciding factor for me.
I have no idea how you really feel about military service, so I must piece together how you might feel from public sources. Regardless of anything you may have said in the past, your actions this week alone show that you have no respect for anyone in the military unless they think you are doing a wonderful job.
You were part of the decision regarding the withdrawal from Afghanistan and I’d go so far as to say you were probably the deciding vote given how proud you seemed of that decision. In one interview you noted you were the last one in the room and that you had no regrets. And yet, I haven’t seen any interview where you expressed genuine remorse for the consequences of that decision.
This August marked the 3rd anniversary of the deaths of 13 servicemembers at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan. I would have expected that your running mate, Mr. Walz, would have pointed out to you that Gold Star families have a unique pain that we expect our Commander-in-Chief to acknowledge and listen to, even if they cannot understand. The heartbreaking loss of these families was accompanied by something very few people in this world experience: the pain of 24/7 coverage of the death of your child or spouse. You can’t get away from it, you can’t even start to heal, because every newscast rips out another piece of your heart. I have never had that experience and so can only imagine but I can guarantee the reality is way worse. We expect our candidates for Commander-in-Chief to acknowledge that pain but your short statement released on social media comes nowhere close to being acceptable.
You are the sitting Vice President and arguably the functional head of our government, but you still haven’t met the families of those killed or any of the wounded? It’s been 3 years. How many family milestones have you celebrated with your family? Holidays? You could find the time to have breakfast with your “baby nieces” but not to honor those who gave their lives for the very freedom you seek to represent. Ask those service members and family members how they spent their holidays. Recovering? In the hospital? Or worse, staring at the cold bronze plaque marking the final resting place of their wife, husband, daughter, son, sister or brother?
You chose a military veteran as a running mate. Yes, box ticked, good for you. Well, lets look at your running mate. Tim Walz may have 24 years of experience in the military, but it seems he’s not very proud of his own service record. He retired as a Master Sergeant, which is nothing to be ashamed of and yet Mr. Walz seems to be very ashamed. “Bad grammar” does not explain the fibbing on going to war. He never had to deal with incoming weapons fire, worrying about IEDs exploding under his vehicle and he never had to fire his weapon in combat. His family never had to worry if he was going to come home in one piece or not at all. He made the decision to retire before that could happen.
Nor does expressing himself badly explain the numerous times he said he was a retired Command Sergeant Major or that same lie handed out to every person with his CSM challenge coins. Retiring before you complete the required time in grade & grade requirements is a very conscious decision to give up any additional pay and benefits and not something you ever forget. Command Sergeant Major will never be on his bronze plaque when he is laid to rest. Master Sergeant will.
Madame Vice-President, there are approximately 1.9 million current Active Duty, Reserve and Guard soldiers, sailors, airman, marines, coastguardsmen & guardians. Every one of those men & women have written a blank check payable to the United States for anything up to and including their life to the President of the United States. Please, tell me, why should I or any mother, father, grandparent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle or cousin of those millions, trust you with the life of their loved one or ones? Why?
Right now the lemming media and your campaign staffers are firing up their computers and posting to social media about how dare I question you. The real question is – HOW DARE YOU?
How dare you ask us to vote for you when you are not willing to fulfill one of the basic requirements of the office of President of the United States to which you aspire? Consoler-in-Chief.
