Mr. Femmedem enlisted to be a pilot in Vietnam (a story about the speech) [View All]

[femmedem]

Mr. Femmedem learned to fly while he was in high school. He enlisted to fly in Vietnam. He was a very red white and blue gung ho eighteen year old who wanted to be a hero.

But shortly before he was going to ship out, he heard the officers laughing about the Gulf of Tonkin. "What?" he kept asking them. "It wasn't true? The Gulf of Tonkin wasn't true?" And that's how he learned our government conned him into risking his life with a lie.

Very shortly after that, he punched his CO, got booted out of the army, grew his hair long, went hitchhiking around the country, grew apart from his parents who were mortified that he didn't stay and fight...and his hair is still long and he is still so angry at this government. The sense of betrayal is still raw.

Mr. Femmedem and I knew the Iraq war was a lie. We marched in D.C. and NYC. We didn't expect it to do any good, and it didn't. Still, we were heartbroken that our government was at it again. Or still.

But today, watching Obama's speech, Mr. Femmedem was gobsmacked. He was drop-jawed. He was nearly in tears. Afterwards, he said, "That's the first time a politician ever told me the truth."

Edited for a typo.