Yes, the headline is true. Jill Biden and I shared peace signs. We had a connection. After nearly 15 minutes of hearing Joe Biden's wife speak to nearly 300 enthusiastic supporters of the Obama-Biden ticket at the New Smyrna Beach Woman's Club this afternoon, I flashed her the piece sign from the back of the room where I was standing near a couple of TV cameras on a raised platform. She raised her right hand to me and and returned the peace sign of her own, along with a broad smile as she exited the hall. It was a moment in time I'm sure she will remember. I know I will.
Now before all you political types come out of the woodwork and assail me -- understand that peace is a universal love. Peace starts in the heart and whether it's real is in the eye of the beholder.
Richard Nixon was famous for giving the peace sign while he was secretly bombing Laos and Cambodia. Robert Kennedy gave the peace sign after delivering his victory speech in Los Angeles after winning the California primary in 1968. He was shot dead moments later.
Of course, I am among the last of the Baby Boomers, born in 1962. So I was only a child during the volatile 60s, a teen-ager during Post-Watergate and a college kid during the Reagan years and his ending of the Cold War, but that peace sign -- the V with the index and middle fingers straight up -- is an eternal symbol of hope. At least that is how I see it.
Jill Biden, of course, spoke of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how her son, too, is in harm's way -- deployed to Iraq just a couple weeks ago.
Sometimes war is necessary to bring about peace. I am as much a nationalist as the next person, especially in crushing those who harmed or would harm us like al-Qaida. The intent has to be clear from the onset and the mission finished.
As a journalist, I've met quite a few politicians with varied views on war and peace: Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Ted Kennedy. I've spoken on the phone to the likes of Mitt Romney and John Kerry.
In my own way today, I spoke to Jill Biden on the subject of peace and she answered back. Indeed, we had a connection.