Vietnam Veteran Curse?

Can it really be, that America will never have a Vietnam War veteran serve as President of the United States? It certainly seems likely at this point. If Senator Obama wins the election two weeks from tomorrow, and I am confident that he will, we will have seen three consecutive elections in which a Vietnam veteran was nominated, but lost. And with no disrespect to Al Gore, Senators Kerry and McCain are not just veterans, but gentlemen with heroic service records (though under dramatically different circumstances).

If Obama wins, the next contested Democratic primary will be in 2016, at which point most Vietnam veterans will be well over 60 years old. None of the up-and-comers in the party (Mark Warner, Brian Schweitzer) served in the military, let alone Vietnam. The sole exception might be Jim Webb, but he'll be 70 years old and an unlikely candidate.

The Republican bench is just the same. Neither Mike Huckabee nor Mitt Romney is a veteran. Same for Bobby Jindal, who was three years old when Saigon fell. And we all know Sarah Palin has never been to Vietnam.

Perhaps I am overlooking someone who will rise to lead their party into the White House. And perhaps it is not such a big deal. It just seems odd, considering the perpetual elevation of military service as the pinnacle of public sacrifice, and the continuing presence of the Vietnam War as a focal point in political debate, that a veteran of that conflict might never hold our highest office.