ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 28, 1996 TAG: 9610280109
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD E. O'DELL
TO ELECT Sen. Bob Dole or re-elect President Bill Clinton is the critical choice. It will affect Virginia and our nation for many years. Like other military veterans, my vote is important, and I'll use it wisely.
Dole's years in Washington make him skilled in saying things veterans and others like to hear. Those who do not closely follow legislation in Congress are surprised to learn that in his 27 years in the Senate Dole had one of the worst voting records on issues affecting veterans and their families. In fact:
* Dole has voted against much-needed funding for veterans' health-care services. Many of these votes came at a time when his own generation of veterans was aging and increasingly turning to the Department of Veterans Affairs for health care.
* He voted in support of a budget amendment to slash VA programs across the board. For many Virginia veterans and their families, adequate funding for medical care, pension benefits and disability compensation often makes the difference between getting by or not.
* Last year, Dole voted against a bill to protect service-connected disability and death payments from a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Many of his fellow disabled veterans believe that Dole, as Senate majority leader, should have stood up for them. He did not.
In comparison, President Clinton - not unlike President Franklin Roosevelt - has proved it isn't necessary to be a veteran to be a veterans' advocate or a highly effective commander in chief. His support for veterans and successes in the application of American military power are self-evident. For example:
* Clinton has restructured the VA medical system to ensure that more resources are focused on patient care. VA management has been directed to trim bureaucracy in favor of increased health-care services. Doing so is beneficial for veterans and cost-effective for taxpayers.
* He fought to fully fund veterans' benefit programs and to ensure that disabled veterans and military retirees receive full cost-of-living adjustments on benefits. Confronted with an insensitive Congress led by Dole and Newt Gingrich, Clinton has refused to compromise the economic well-being of those who need VA programs.
* Clinton disengaged our troops from Somalia, a volatile situation inherited from his predecessor. He deployed troops to Haiti, thereby stopping the bloodshed, deposing a dictator and restoring democracy to that island nation. He deployed forces to Bosnia, halting a bloody civil war, saving countless lives of soldiers and civilians, and paving the way for free and open elections.
We should respect Dole for his military service during World War II. I do. However, that honorable and life-threatening service doesn't by itself qualify him to be president. His record in Washington demonstrates that he has little, if any, emotional identification with those who are less fortunate. Veterans have suffered from his legislative record, and would also suffer if his campaign proposals, including his ill-conceived tax scheme, become reality.
Fair-minded men and women will readily recognize that Clinton has led our country to an economic rebirth. Moreover, Clinton has awakened a long-dormant civic energy and pride that allows us to look eagerly to the future, not wistfully to the past. Clinton has my vote, and I urge Virginians to support his people-oriented leadership for another four years.
Richard E. O'Dell of Roanoke is a combat veteran of the Vietnam war and former director of the Virginia Department of Veterans Affairs.
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