Obama - the man of the many? Romney - the man of the few?

While Obama campaigned in Florida, he claimed the 2012 presidential race is similar to the 1964 contest between Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson. In that contest, Johnson crushed Goldwater. Goldwater was branded as an extremist and Johnson was branded as the great society savior. In my opinion, the democrats will  promote Obama as the man of the many, and Romney as the man of the few.

Goldwater believed that if America should go to war, then America should use all its resources to fight to win. For that view, he was branded an extremist.  Lyndon Johnson, in contrast, said he would never send troops into Viet Nam. A year later, he sent 200,000 troops there. Take a look at this video to get an idea of the time period. Johnson used an "unprovoked attack" on an American ship referred to as the Gulf of Tonkin resolution to start the war. Secretary of State McNamara later acknowledged the "unprovoked attack" never happened. And so goes history.

By 1968, five hundred thousand Americans were fighting in South Viet Nam.

I remember that period vividly because I was scheduled to fight in Viet Nam. I had just finished ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Core for you youngsters) at the University of Kansas. It was required in those days. Of course, we never won the war and America still silently reverberates from the Nam effect on millions of American families. Johnson ultimately declined to run for reelection. A decision made more for him, than by him.

In 1970 I was in Iran at the American Club. Americans could work in Iran in those days because the Shaw, a powerful ally of the USA, was in power. Goldwater was the featured speaker at the club. By that time, Richard Nixon had inherited the war from Johnson. Goldwater argued that America should either bring all our troops home or go to war to win. He argued that we had the military power to wipe out North Viet Nam, but that we were reluctant to admit we were at war. We preferred to label it just another military skirmish in a distant country. As a result, America was losing American lives needlessly. A terrible price to pay for nothing. By 1975, we had lost the skirmish. If you are under 45 and have not read a book on the Viet Nam war, you should not be allowed to vote. Johnson was a democrat and Nixon was a republican. Ergo, my reading suggestion is bi-partisan.

I have yet to understand why Obama elected to make his 2012 comparison with the 1964 presidential contest. Do you know?

I dare you to read more...