Romney/Obama/Clinton Military Triangle

Distract, redirect, make sure no one looks at the man behind the curtain.

The Obama re-election machine is chugging away, cranking out one distraction after another. With the help of most major media outlets, they churn out story after story, waiting a few seconds in between to see which ones stick so that they can draw them out as long as possible. So far we have seen the "war on women," the manufactured Republican "war on jobs," and the Romney-bully story among others.

But one of he most recent distractions is one that actually bears looking into a bit. The Associated Press published an article last week criticizing Romney for failing to serve in the military during Vietnam. He took student and religious deferments and so was never drafted. They compare his lack of military record to Obama's - a ridiculous comparison, as the last time there was a draft Obama was a child - as if to suggest that Obama never would have done anything to avoid service in the same manner.

A better comparison would be Bill Clinton, who may not be running in the current election, but actually was of age during the Vietnam War. Not only did Clinton take as many student deferments as possible, he also made use of his family's political influence and simply avoided answering his draft letters when push came to shove.

In comparison, Romney comes out ahead regardless of his failure to serve because the methods he employed in order to avoid service were all perfectly legal and above board. Clinton's, not so much.

If you insist on comparing Romney to Obama, well, let's do that:

Whenever Obama gets pushed into a corner he blames someone else. It's Bush's fault. We can't fix the economy because the tsunami in Japan set us back. We're still struggling because the European debt crisis is keeping us down. I can't get anything done because the Republicans in Congress (who have put out several prospective budgets to the Dems' 0) don't want college students to be able to afford their student loan payments. Healthcare is stalling because the Republicans want women to bleed and die one the floor of illegal abortion clinics.

Now let's extrapolate: I can't serve in the military because I'm busy doing crack in between the classes I bother to show up for at all...

Given Obama's willingness to use military pay and benefits as political leverage, there is no doubt in my mind that he views the military duties of the President as an evil necessary to retain his position of social influence and power. Except, of course, in events such as the raid on Bin Laden, which he can use to his political advantage as well. Anyone who thinks he would not have chosen deferments - whether legal like Romney or less than legal like Clinton - well, there's a bridge I can sell you...