Monday, Cancun, Mexico

When he was running for President, George Bush Senior often had to defend himself from the accusation that he was a wimp. Although he was a fighter pilot in World War II who served heroically, his elaborate diction and manner of expression gave off the impression of an Ivy League dandy. But his later public image belied his real character.

As if to emphasize his machismo Bush has made several parachute jumps from planes in his old age. His first celebrated leap was on his 80th birthday. And then this last week he jumped out of a plane right into a celebration of the dedications ceremony for the expansion of his presidential library. At 83 he is just recovered from hip replacement surgery and is obviously full of the joy of living.

But the senior Mr. Bush is no stranger to the experience of jumping from planes. In 1944, he made his first jump from his plane that was shot down by enemy fire in the Pacific. Surely the elder President Bush is no wimp. And of course as President he is remembered for the war he fought against Iraq. And it seems that his leadership in that conflict was steady and confident in some measure because he was personally tested in combat. It is the same feeling of assurance the country had with the leadership of every commander-in-chief who has been through a war. Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and George Bush Senior were all men who felt first hand the impact of nations at war. They all faced fire.

And it is this lack of experience that gives me pause about the leadership of presidents and advisors who are eager to send soldiers into combat having never faced it themselves. And it’s made worse when there is a suspicion that they avoided the experience when they had the opportunity. Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter wer both in the military although neither saw combat. Bill Clinton was the first President to have never been in the military and , like so many Baby Boomers facing the draft during the Vietnam War he avoided service.

The distinction between George Bush Senior and Junior is stark. Dad came across in the media as soft.; the son comes across as tough. Dad was in a war; the son served far away from a war. Dad executed a military mission carefully planned and managed; the son…

And of course there’s the active war experience of Donald Rumsfeld who served in the War as did Colin Powell and of course, Vice President Dick Cheney. (Ah, scratch that last one)