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In remarks that clearly pointed toward the restoration of the military
draft under an Obama administration, the Democratic candidate said Thursday night
that his job as president would include demanding that the American people recognize
an “obligation” for military service. “If we are going into
war, then all of us go, not just some,” Senator Barack Obama declared.
Obama’s comments came as he and his Republican opponent, Senator John
McCain, took part in a forum on national service at Columbia University in New
York City. Earlier in the day, both candidates joined in a memorial service
at the site of the World Trade Center, commemorating the victims of the 9/11
terrorist attacks.
While “national service” encompasses more than the military, including
such government-run programs as the Peace Corps, Americorps and Teach for America,
as well as private and religious programs, both McCain and Obama focused on
expanding the US Armed Forces as a major goal of the next administration, whether
Democratic or Republican.
In an indication of the bipartisan support for the increasing militarization
of American society, McCain jokingly offered to name Obama his coordinator for
national service if the Republican were to win the election, and Obama reciprocated.
The forum was co-hosted by Judy Woodruff of the Public Broadcasting Service
and Richard Stengel, editor of Time magazine. Woodruff introduced Stengel as
the man responsible for the magazine’s 2007 cover story, “The Case
for National Service,” which Woodruff said had “ignited this movement.”
McCain was the first of the two candidates to appear at the forum. In response
to a direct question from Woodruff, he rejected the restoration of the draft,
voicing support for maintaining an all-volunteer army. Such a disavowal is to
be expected 55 days before a presidential election, and no doubt Obama would
have given a similar response had he been asked the same question.
But in the course of his discussion with Woodruff and Stengel, McCain repeatedly
connected the imperative of “national service” with the outbreak
of international crises in which an American military role would be posed. Citing
the Russian intervention in Georgia and the deteriorating position of the US-backed
regime in Afghanistan, he said the American people could “see a whole
lot of things happening in the world that’s going to require us to serve.”
McCain also said that he would sign the bipartisan legislation, co-sponsored
in the Senate by Democrat Edward Kennedy and Republican Orrin Hatch, to triple
the size of Americorps, the domestic version of the Peace Corps.
Obama’s comments were even more directly related to building up the US
military. He spoke at some length to offer effusive praise for the armed forces.
Woodruff asked him about the record number of Army officers leaving the military
because of repeated, lengthy overseas deployments.
The candidate responded, “Well, first of all, as commander-in-chief,
my job is to keep America safe. And that means insuring that we’ve got
the best military on Earth. And that means having the best persons in uniform
on Earth. We have that right now, but as a consequence of these wars, they have
been strained incredibly. I think it’s important for us to increase the
size of our Army and our Marines so we can reduce the pace of tours that our
young men and women are on.”
After recalling his grandfather’s service in World War II, in the army
of General George Patton, he noted that his grandfather was eligible for GI
Bill education benefits and Federal Housing Administration loans to help purchase
a home because of government policies favoring the discharged veterans. “There
was that sense of sacred obligation that, frankly, we have lost during these
last two wars,” Obama said. “I want to restore that.”
Obama went on to make his most direct statement of the campaign about expanding
military service, declaring: “But it’s also important that a president
speaks to military service as an obligation not just of some, but of many. You
know, I traveled, obviously, a lot over the last 19 months. And if you go to
small towns, throughout the Midwest or the Southwest or the South, every town
has tons of young people who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s
not always the case in other parts of the country, in more urban centers. And
I think it’s important for the president to say, this is an important
obligation. If we are going into war, then all of us go, not just some.”
Taken in the context of a forum on national service, these comments have an
unmistakable and ominous implication. Military service in the volunteer army
is undertaken disproportionately by small-town and rural youth, for both economic
and cultural reasons. It is far less common for middle class and working class
youth in large cities, and especially their suburbs, to enlist in the military.
Obama holds out the prospect that, at least initially, his demand for wider
participation in military service would consist of encouraging more enlistments
in the volunteer army. When that failed, as it undoubtedly would, to produce
sufficient cannon fodder for the next round of imperialist wars, the logical
next step would be reactivation of the Selective Service System, which still
exists, albeit in mothballed form.
In political terms, Obama’s appearance at Columbia was aimed at demonstrating
to the American political establishment that he is prepared to reject any pressure
from antiwar college students, who are a major component of his campaign’s
personnel and volunteers. To that end, Obama not only called for expanded military
service, he directly attacked the exclusion of the Reserve Officers Training
Corps (ROTC) from many college campuses.
Stengel noted that Columbia had invited President Ahmadinejad of Iran to speak
on the campus, but “haven’t invited ROTC to be on campus since 1969.”
Obama replied, “Yes, I think we’ve made a mistake on that. I recognize
that there are students here who have differences in terms of military policy.
But the notion that young people here at Columbia or anywhere, in any university,
aren’t offered the choice, the option of participating in military service,
I think is a mistake.”
The suggestion that young people at Columbia or anywhere else are denied “the
option of participating in military service” is preposterous. In no country
in the world is there so much media advertising and societal pressure—largely,
at this point, economic—to impel young people into the military.
ROTC became a focus of hostility on hundreds of campuses during the Vietnam
War era, and was in many cases banned as a student organization. These restrictions
largely ended after 1975, but they were continued or reestablished on a handful
of campuses after the Clinton administration established the “Don’t
ask, don’t tell” policy, reaffirming the longtime Pentagon ban on
gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. Such a ban violates the non-discrimination
rules imposed by many campuses on corporate recruiters.
In response to a further question from Woodruff, Obama elaborated on his efforts
to recruit young people to become participants in, and potential victims of,
military violence. “Inspiring young people to serve is something that
the president is uniquely positioned to do,” he said, adding that this
could be for civilian positions that are adjuncts to US military operations
overseas, such as the State Department, USAID or civil engineering.
Obama returned to the subject of widening participation in military service
in words that were cautiously phrased but deeply reactionary. “I think
there are special obligations during wartime,” he said. “We always
have potential conflicts around the world, and our military has to remain strong
and ready. And so I want to encourage military service, as well as other ways
of serving, regardless of whether there’s war or not. But I do think that
over the last several years, the fact that the burden has been shouldered by
such a narrow group is a problem.”
In a closely balanced election, with the outcome still very much in doubt,
Obama hopes to win the support of the real decision-makers—the topmost
levels of the financial, political and military elite. Only a Democrat, he is
suggesting, with the smokescreen of “equal sacrifice” and “fairness,”
can provide the millions of recruits for the US military machine that will be
required for wars against countries such as Iran, Russia and China.
While utilizing the occasional high-flown phrase to appeal to the idealism
of youth and students, Obama is offering the ruling class a brutal bargain:
Select me as president, and I will repay you in blood.