What kind of mother would encourage her husband to do so in the name of gender equality? Would the family's neighbors admire the family's liberal-mindedness if they discovered Mom and Dad had given their daughter this potentially dangerous assignment?
I have no doubt the same American fathers who work and save to send their daughters to colleges, law schools, medical schools and business schools, and encourage them to be all that they can be in their chosen walks of life, would not feel right sending their daughters down to intercept burglars in the basement.
I doubt even the most committed feminist would tell her husband to sit back, relax and watch Leno on the couch, while sending their 19-year-old daughter downstairs to see what had gone bump in the night.
But, as a nation, we sent Johnson, Lynch and Piestewa into Nasiriyah. They are indisputably and forever American heroines for the sacrifices they made there. But it will not be heroic politics if the Republican Party leaves in place the Clinton-era rule that put them there.
On May 8, The Washington Times asked President Bush about reversing the Clinton-era rule change on women in combat. "I will take guidance from the United States military," Bush said. "Our commanders will make those decisions." A week later, Human Events Assistant Editor David Freddoso asked the Pentagon if Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was considering reversing the Clinton rule change. "There are no plans to change the rules," said Maj. Sandra Burr, a department spokeswoman for personnel matters.
If Bush and Rumsfeld won't order it, the Republican Congress must legislate it. Or is the entire Republican leadership in Washington willing to send American servicewomen halfway around the world to run risks they wouldn't let their own daughters run at home?