I was thrilled to see the Democratic leadership today beginning to take on the Republicans on national security. Like thousands of other rank-and-file Democrats I have pleaded on this site for Dems to get off the mat and throw a punch.
No, they didn't put it as succinctly as in my headline but at least it's a start.
Now what the Dems need to do is hold a National Security Summit, acting as if they were already in power, so that when we take back the House and Senate in November we will hit the ground running. At the summit, Iraq, of course will be at the top of the agenda. The Dems need to develop, "A Democratic Plan for Honoring and Protecting Our Troops." Bush misled us into war, now the Democrats will be the ones to bring them back with dignity.
The plan should incorporate Jane Harmon's proposal to declare to the world, "No permanent U.S. bases in Iraq." We already have bases in Kuwait and Qatar. If we're not occupying Iraq to steal their oil then there is no excuse for those permanent bases. That declaration will be one step in getting the bull's eye off our soldiers' backs.
Wes Clark and John Kerry's call for an aggressive regional diplomatic initiative needs to be incorporated into some compromise between Murtha's immediate redeployment plan and the Center for American Progress's one-year "strategic redeployment." Those of us who would favor Murtha's plan need to realize that even if we started pulling out today it would still take months to complete, so the idea of drawing down significantly by the end of the year is very close to what we want and as good as we're going to get. This is the great line in the sand that Democrats can draw. The Republicans want us in Iraq forever ("Pulling out troops will be for future Presidents to decide," said Bush.) The vast majority of Americans disagree with them. Yet most Americans also say the Democrats don't have any better ideas of how to get us out of there. We need to give them some.
And if Hilary and Lieberman don't want to go along with the program they can both become Republicans.
We will not only be saving our soldiers' lives and rescuing the National Guard from collapse, we will also be forcing Iraqis to come together to form a new government. Behind the scenes we would tell both sides that we will not allow Iraq to turn into either part of Greater Iran or re-Baathified. Beyond that they have to work it out for themselves.
At the Democratic summit the Dems need to invite the slate of new Iraq war veterans and position them front and center. Kerry, Gore, Murtha, General Clark, Max Cleland and the other Democrats who are also decorated veterans need to be there too, all in a long, straight line. They need to point out that every single one of the several dozen men and women standing in the picture have more combat experience than Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld combined.
Then, most importantly, the Democrats need to keep standing tall when the Republicans start viciously fighting back. Too often in the past a Dem sticks his chin out, he gets whacked, then he retreats and makes a teary-eyed apology. That vacillation has destroyed our reputation with Independents. Until President Cheney apologizes for lying us into a war for his oil then no Democrat should apologize for nothing. Isn't a donkey supposed to be stubborn and have a killer kick?
Look, I know it's not a perfect start and one press conference won't undo a decade of waffling and whining, but we have to remember recent history. All of you disaffected Progressives who voted for Nader unknowingly delivered this country, the entire world in fact, into the hands of a dangerously incompetent radical right regime for at least eight bleak years.
We need to, I need to, stop (publicly) calling the Democratic leadership pussies. Hold their feet to the fire, yes. Remind them of the fearless fighting stock from which they came, yes. Call them pussies so Rush can repeat it and Independents won't vote for us, no.
If we really believe that the future of this nation is at stake in the upcoming elections we need to fight to win it with our smarts as well as with our heats.