THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

AGE, ELECTIONS AND WAR | 2004-10-16

I wonder how many readers have the same general attitude to this election that I do? I HATE liberals, so I always find myself rooting for Bush and his partisans when I am watching talks on television.

On the other hand, my attitude is different because I have been through so MANY presidential elections, not to mention all the other ones.

I was just counting the number of presidential elections I remember well. I was counting them on my fingers, and I ended up taking off my shoes. I have been through fourteen so far. This is the fifteenth.

The same thing goes for Iraq. I remember sitting in school during the Korean War wondering if we would ever get out of it. Then there was Vietnam. Now there's Iraq.

Most people alive today have some vague memories of Vietnam, but Korea is just flat forgotten.

So Iraq is a big deal to people younger than me, and damn near everybody is younger than me. The 2004 election is a big deal to most people who are interested in politics. I often forget it is going on.

When the news gets to Iraq, I change channels.