Elections and Stunts

The war comes home with increasing frequency now, arriving with a river of tears; shed either for those who are casualties or the lucky majority whose units make it back safely to families forced to endure the daily anxiety of being able to read and hear about battles and ambushes as they happen while wondering if a son, daughter, husband or father's fate was lucky or lethal.

Part of their service and all of their sacrifice was met with success Sunday when millions of Iraquis braved bullets and bombs to line up and vote for the first time in half a century. The explanation and argument surrounding the war here briefly faded as pictures of people determined to cast a ballot and form a government temporarily muted debate over our involvement.

In places like Boston, New York City, L.A. and so many other spots, we positively take voting for granted, if we bother to vote at all. Election day means a stop at a school or a fire station where there are small lines and no threat to safety at a ballot box.

Nobody dies. The opposition isn't armed with rocket launchers or IEDs. So how come the turnout- on a per capita basis- can be higher in parts of war ravaged cities like Mosul and Baghdad than it is in American wards and precincts where they scream about snow removal, trash pick-up, traffic, taxes and public education but don't bother to vote in numbers that would indicate they care about the country where we all live?

- Mike Barnicle, MSNBC

Ink stained fingers:
By the way, that gets me to one observation I had about covering the State of the Union, just 36 hours after being in Baghdad. To me, it was surreal to see the members of Congress arrive in their nice cars and motorcades... and then walk into the house chamber wearing their fancy suits and ties. It was even more surreal to see that some lawmakers, in this incredibly secure and safe coccoon, had stained their own index fingers.

The courage of ordinary Iraqis last Sunday was unmistakable. They were literally risking their lives by standing in line to vote and by getting their fingers stamped with ink. The members of Congress who stained their own fingers and wagged them proudly for the cameras were an affront to that courage. And in my eyes, those lawmakers diminished the true significance of what happened last weekend in Iraq. The fact is, few members of Congress have a son or daughter serving in the U.S. military. And few lawmakers have actually ever served themselves. Furthermore, in Washington, D.C., even "political courage," (never mind the real stuff) is exceptionally rare. Am I being too cynical? Probably. (And I'm sure I'll get a ton of nasty e-mails from
some of you.) But, if members of Congress want to show "solidarity" with the Iraqi people... they are welcome to head to Baghdad, put on a flak jacket, and help/advise the new assembly on writing the constitution. Or, our lawmakers could serve as "election monitors" in Iraq when the constitution is put to a vote as early as this fall. That would be courageous and show real solidarity. An ink-stained american finger, waved for the TV cameras on the floor of the House chamber... is a political stunt.

- David Shuster, MSNBC <source post>