[Rhodes22-list] But, It Makes for a Good Story, Right? (Political)

[jbconnolly at comcast.net]

I also graduated high school in 1979.  I registered at some time during the summer after freshman year college (that would be summer 1980).  

28 years later, I had to think some about exactly when (after high school gradiuation) that was.  The only reason I recall exactly when is that I registered during lunch on a summer job I held only that one summer.

I can say honestly during the summer of 1980 that I did not (at that time) consider entering the military, although I was commissioned an Ensign USN in October 1982.

Jim Connolly
s/v Inisheer
'85 recycled '03

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Herb Parsons <hparsons at parsonsys.com>
> Senator Obama said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos that he 
> considered joining the military when he graduated from high school. 
> There's an interesting detail to the story:
> 
>  From the article:
> =====
> Mr Obama was asked by George Stephanopoulos of ABC's "This Week" 
> programme whether he'd ever thought about military service and replied: 
> "You know, I actually did. I had to sign up for Selective Service [a 
> means of conscription in case of war] when I graduated from high school.
> =====
> 
> While Senator Obama my think that "considering" serving is noteworthy, 
> there's one small hole in his story:
> 
> There was no requirement to sign up for Selective Service in 1979!
> 
> President Gerald Ford suspended the requirement in 1975, and it was 
> reinstated in the summer of 1980 by President Jimmy Carter. So, maybe 
> Senator Obama REALLY meant that he considered dropping out of college to 
> enlist, but I suspect that's not the real answer. I suspect he had to 
> have at least SOMETHING to appeal to those that are pro-military, and he 
> felt that his "newly-disclosed military ambition" would help without 
> disenfranchising the anti-military folks (after all, he DID decide not to).
> 
> Read the story  here:
> 
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/2700555/Ba
> rack-Obama-wanted-to-join-the-US-military.html
> 
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