Call me crazy, but I just do not understand how the Washington Democratic Party establishment can publicly say that in advance of the 2006 elections, there needs to be no Democratic Party unity on the Iraq War - the most pressing national security issue of the day. To make such a claim, you have to be either dumb; totally out of touch with the majority of Americans who want an exit strategy; deliberately dishonest because you are embarrassed you supported the war in the first place; disdainful of voters' intellect; or all of the above. But, incredibly, that's what Democrats in Washington are telling the media, and consequently, broadcasting to the American people.
Stories like this one in the Christian Science Monitor only reinforce the public's image that the Democratic Party in Washington, D.C. stands for nothing. In the piece, for instance, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi actually says "We don't even have a party position on the war." Why? Because "We don't ask members to do one thing or another." Right, why should they? They are only the leaders of the party? Why should they lead? Good god, what is wrong with these people - do they not see that their fear of actually leading and taking a real position is what is at the heart of voters' reservations about supporting them?
Pelosi, at least, has publicly said she wants an exit strategy from Iraq. But her comments about party leaders not actually trying to ask their rank-and-file members to do anything is echoed by others. For instance, it was Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel who told Businessweek that in order to be a Democratic candidate for Congress, "There's no checklist that you have to run on" - yet another public advertisement by party leaders in Washington that they actually want the "D" label behind a candidate's name to have absolutely no real meaning at all.
Thankfully, according to Reuters, Senate Democrats are preparing to take a much different approach this week - one that could force a real debate on an exit strategy. Nonetheless, it's obvious the Democratic Party in Washington is still plagued by the professional class of cynical insiders who continue to try to drive the party into the ground. These folks rant on about "change" and a "new direction" without providing any serious evidence that Democrats represent substantive "change" and a "new direction" is an insult to voters' intelligence. It takes them for fools, which they most certainly are not.
The fools are the professional election losers in the consulting/think-tank class who keep preaching this - and the politicians who keep listening to their inane advice. All you have to do is spend about 5 minutes outside the Beltway echo chamber to know that Americans want a real choice on the major issues - not just a meaningless choice on which set of blow-dried politicians get to call themselves "speaker of the house" or "chairman."