# Posted 1:12 PM by Patrick Belton
AS A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR IN THE KERRY-VIETNAM WARS, I've lately been adopting the Wonk's Approach to Surviving a Presidential Election: stop up both ear canals with particularly choice pages from the
Economist; then gently begin reciting Clausewitz, the
Brookings Review, and, in extremity, even the
Road Map; and repeat until mid-November, at which point you might try emerging. Nonetheless, it seems to me that what
Larry Sabato and Joe Gandelman have to say on the subject is worthwhile. (Namely, from a purely strategic standpoint, Democrats most likely hadn't foreseen the flip side of Kerry's career as a war hero, that is, the effect of his post-service career as a anti-war protester on how he is perceived by other Vietnam veterans. Also, the general point that like the American Civil War, or the Irish civil war of 1922-23, it now seems particularly likely that Vietnam will rear its head in a 'where-were-you' capacity in every presidential contest in the nation, as long as any of its participants are alive.)
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