Rather than fight in Vietnam, he manipulated the system and received a deferment.
While enjoying that deferment, he organized demonstrations against his nation, who was at war, and he organized these demonstrations on foreign soil.
During a campaign stump, he promised that he would hold Hanoi accountable.
A document surfaced out of the former Soviet Union's archives stating that in 1972 the Vietnamese were holding 1,205 Americans as POWs; he does not even debrief the person the document is attributed to, although that person is still alive and accessible.
Less than 2 years after he achieved his office, he pushed for the lifting of the US objections to IMF loans to Vietnam.
Within months thereafter, he pushed hard for the United States to lift the trade embargo in place against Vietnam, against the wishes of practically every military organization and family members of the unaccounted for.
Upon lifting the trade embargo, he told family members, "Lifting the embargo and establishing a liason office in Vietnam means neither full diplomatic relations or favored nation status. We will continue to work toward the fullest possible accounting and we believe that having American business in Vietnam will help us obtain the fullest possible accounting.
Less than a year and a half later, with only 8 sets of repatriated remains since the lifting of the trade embargo, he pushed normalization through, again without any regard for overwhelming outcry against normalization by virtually every military organization, family members, as well as 50 former Prisoners of War.
He sucks. But he doesn't inhale. . . .
us here!