(HOST) The increasing rancor between Presidential candidates is tempting Veteran A-B-C News correspondent and commentator Bill Seamans to look elsewhere for examples of exceptional leadership and public service.
(SEAMANS) The consensus of the legion of pundits is that as the pressure builds up, this campaign is going to be the most negative ever. Negative is the fancy word for rancor and smear and other less civil expressions – this despite all the pious promises to the contrary by the candidates.
The rhetoric turned really aggressive when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama clashed angrily during the Democratic Debate Monday night – Barack accused Hillary and husband Bill of distorting his position and Hillary charged that Barack was trying to deny his record. Whatever truce they had declared previously exploded in the barrage of exchanges that turned quite uncivilly personal. Nothing was said about the stock market crisis spreading across the world.
While the presidential wannabes and their cohorts continue chattering about "experience," and "change" and racial innuendo we can turn to the Army – yes, the U.S. Army for a little noticed story that offers an extraordinary lesson of achievement by merit regardless of "color."
Have you ever heard of Gen. Lloyde Austin or Gen. William "Kip" Ward? Both are African-Americans who have reached two of the most prestigious posts in the military. Both are master paratroopers with extensive combat experience.
Gen. Austin next month will become the number two troop commander in Iraq under Gen. Petraeus. He’s a 1975 West Point graduate who helped lead the 3rd Infantry Division spearhead to Baghdad. He now commands the 18th Airborne Corps which includes the famous 82nd Airborne Division and recently led his troops in a parachute drop training for their Iraq deployment.
Gen. "Kip" Ward has been appointed the first chief of our new Africa Command, the first major U.S. military presence in the region. It’s a very important and sensitive assignment in an area torn by civilian and military strife and because of our strategic interest in Africa’s vast untapped oil resources. Ward led a 10th Mountain Division Brigade in Afghanistan, and an 82nd Airborne Group, and was commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division. Both have studied at the Army’s elite officer training schools.
So what’s the moral of this story of extraordinary national service for our politicians beating the primary trail? It suggests that our presidential candidates should clean their campaigns of race, ethnicity and gender and that the word "African" be dropped from "African-American" – this in accord with Martin Luther King’s dream, in his words, of his children not being "judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."