Possumblog

Smart and Strong!

As if.

After I finally got my wondrous new DSL service going last night in its full 300Mbps (not really) glory, I noticed an interesting story that had just hit the news page--

Democrats Pledge to 'Eliminate' Osama

By LIZ SIDOTI , 03.28.2006, 08:44 PM

Congressional Democrats promise to "eliminate" Osama bin Laden and ensure a "responsible redeployment of U.S. forces" from Iraq in 2006 in an election-year national security policy statement.

In the position paper to be announced Wednesday, Democrats say they will double the number of special forces and add more spies, which they suggest will increase the chances of finding al-Qaida's elusive leader. They do not set a deadline for when all of the 132,000 American troops now in Iraq should be withdrawn.

"We're uniting behind a national security agenda that is tough and smart and will provide the real security George Bush has promised but failed to deliver," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday.

His counterpart in the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the Democrats are offering a new direction - "one that is strong and smart, which understands the challenges America faces in a post 9/11 world, and one that demonstrates that Democrats are the party of real national security." [...] [Emphasis mine]

Having become accustomed over the past few years to the way these things work, one senses that at a recent conclave amongst the putative Democratic "leadership," a pollster was trotted out who laid it out for everyone to see--"Ladies and gentleman, poll after poll show that Americans think the Republicans aren't doing as well as they could be doing, but rather than vote for you, people keep telling us that they think Democrats are stupid and weak."

After several hours of trying to figure out what the definitions of "stupid" and "weak" are (and answering the near-constant stream of prank phone calls from Karl Rove who keeps asking if their refrigerator is running, and then being puzzled when Rove keeps laughing uproariously everytime they answer "yes, and would you please quit asking!"), Reid, Pelosi, et al., decide that the best course of action is to boldly tell EVERYONE that they are NOT weak and stupid, but on the contrary, are STRONG and SMART! THAT will show those evil Republicans who keep using the Democrats' own words against them!

AND, in the grand tradition of the party that has very nearly relegated itself to perpetual minority status through constant pandering and overpromising, they up the ante by GUARANTEEING they will capture Osama bin Ladin! WOO-HOO!! AMERICA IS DONE SAVED! (But in the purely secular sense, because to inject faith into the discussion is offensive.)

Well, a couple of things. The reason I think the Democrats are weak and stupid has little to do with the things they say in position papers. It has everything to do with the idea that the effective prosecution of the war on terror is best done by the rote disagreement with President Bush at every single possible turn, regardless of the actual consequences of that stand. Every miscue, every shortcoming, is mindlessly, needlessly, amplified and used as a tool of political gamesmanship--which is fine if all we're doing is fighting over whether to build a big bridge in Alaska.

But the criticism of the war effort in particular has not been the least bit constructive, and seems less directed toward actually winning the war than scoring short-term political points. It's not that the Administration is above criticism--it isn't, nor should it be. But the Democratic response is less an intellectual process than it is the automatic gainsaying of what the Republicans have said. (No it isn't! Yes it is!)

You want folks to think you're smart and tough? Start being smart and tough--don't talk about losing, talk about winning. (And by "winning," I mean winning the war, not the White House.) Quit trying to find common ground with people whose only intent is to kill every one of us. Quit embracing large sweaty men from Hollywood who gleefully equate terrorists with our Founders. Realize that good and evil actually do exist, and that merely spouting off that George Bush is a terrorist pales in comparison to actual terrorists cutting people's heads off.

Second--Osama. Ever since we began operations in Afghanistan the rumblings from the left side of the aisle has been that somehow the whole operation since then has been a colossal failure since we haven't captured Osama. Friends, global jihad is bigger than Osama. Sure, he's got star power and the invocation of his name generates lots of warm fuzzy feelings amongst those on Infidel Elimination duty, but the cause pressed hard by the nonpeaceful parts of the Religion of Peace doesn't rely on the life or death of one man. If he's dead, he's still a martyr and still has the power to serve as inspiration for future attackers. If he's captured, that's good, but it's not the end.

Staking your entire stack of chips on a promise to capture him is foolish, unless you have the willingness to take on the rest of the players who come in to take his place. And what would Democrats do if he happened to be captured?

Going back to the perceptions of those of us who think Democrats are weak and ineffectual in this fight, I have to wonder if there would there be tearful speeches by Patty Murray that he's a good daycare-building man who's simply misunderstood, and that we'd be no better than the terrorists if we tried him? Would the Democrats, with their seemingly insatiable desire for international input and right-of-veto over American power, fall all over themselves to give him the sort of fawning treatment shown to Slobodon Milosovic? Would there be mass marches with big papier mache puppet heads to protest his trial, and demands that George Bush should be tried with him? Or would Democrats simply be satisfied to let him teach at Yale? Maybe go on the Today show with Katie AND Matt interviewing him. Possibly get a nice fat book deal and sit on Oprah's couch. Maybe even get to do a Letterman Top 10 list!

Smart and strong, huh? Well, it's going to have to be more than words on paper.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at March 29, 2006 10:52 AM