One of the lowest moments during this campaign was when Barack Obama saluted John McCain’s military service and then the McCain campaign insulted Obama’s community service. Not only did Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin mock Obama’s work as a community organizer, but the conservative blogosphere is now going after Public Allies, an excellent civilian service program that Michelle Obama worked at. One conservative article said that by expanding AmeriCorps and programs like Public Allies, “the Obamas want to create a boot camp for radicals who hate the military.”
This is definitely a case in which McCain takes a very different approach than some of his supporters. Last night, McCain praised AmeriCorps as an “astonishing success.” McCain championed civilian service; Obama chided Columbia for not allowing ROTC recruiters on campus.
This is important because in the past, the two different cultures – those who did military service and those who did civilian community service – didn’t mix and maybe viewed each other as alien. The national service movement is slowly starting to break down those walls. At the ServiceNation conference today, speeches by civilian service volunteers alternated with speeches from soldiers and military leaders, including Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. About 11,000 AmeriCorps members have been military veterans. Several programs enlist retired military officers, and a military spirit, to organize civilian service volunteers. The National Civilian Community Corps, which did fabulous work with Katrina recovery, is one example.
National service can build bridges not only between races but left and right – white and black, red and blue.