There is much chatter about military service by presidential candidates, most of it to deflect from Democrat VP Candidate Tim Walz’s false claims of rank and position in the Guard. But more distressingly, Walz’s claims reveal him to be a phony and a narcissist. No real leader would abandon his/her troops at the point of deployment. Being a senior enlisted person made him responsible for the training and well-being of his soldiers.

More interesting, however, is how conveniently the Left flip-flops on the importance of military service for presidential candidates. Recent history provides examples.

Bill Clinton openly dodged the draft, taking deferments even after post-graduate school, and running off to England in 1968. Of course he never finished at Oxford, having left for “undisclosed reasons”. Upon return to the United States in 1969, there is no record of Bill Clinton availing himself for military service; to the contrary, he wrote a letter to the ROTC office proclaiming his disdain for the military. It seems ironic that Leftist commentators defended Clinton for his avoidance of military service, while faulting Trump for a medical deferment.

Why did the Left not comment on Barack Obama’s lack of a military record? He probably did the U.S. a favor by not serving, but people who grew up in a privileged way (as Obama did) usually make lousy military people anyway.

Next is Hillary Clinton, who never came close to serving. To cover her obvious shortcoming, she provided her myrmidons with a disingenuous diversion. Demonstrating the ultimate narcissism, she claimed that she “almost joined the Marines.” (I wonder how many people “almost joined the Marines”.)

Again, it is fair to ask why the Left never made Hillary’s non-military service an issue, yet

they still find Trump’s heel spurs offensive. Perhaps Hillary has PTSD from her make-believe experience under “sniper fire” in Croatia.

Joe Biden claims his non-service was because of “asthma”. No doubt this heroic, selfless man would otherwise have been the first to jump on a grenade to save his buddies, but that is not the point. The point is that the Left can’t let go of Trump’s bone spurs, yet they look the other way when Joe Biden claims that asthma kept him out. No doubt Joe would have been a Navy SEAL, except for his asthma! On the other hand, Joe Biden also told us how he almost played in the NFL. What? Play in the NFL with asthma? Do we smell fish?

Kamala Harris lived a highly privileged life, grew up at a time when women were able to reach the top of the ranks in the military, and were actively recruited for both enlisted and officer ranks. Many women her age became flag officers.

There is no reason, no excuse, for Harris’ absence of military service, particularly if she wants to make an issue of Trump’s medical exclusion, and then pose as Commander-in-Chief. So why does the Left not complain about her non-service? Did she have brain spurs?

I can understand why the Left focuses on Trump’s podiatry issues: they must deflect from the disastrous economic policy, foreign policy, abuse of deep-state power, illegal immigration, and fleecing of taxpayers brought to you by Obama, Biden, Harris.

On July 4, 1776, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin: “Mr. Franklin, what have you given us?” He responded: “A Republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

Good luck.

Mary Campbell is a Silver Creek resident.