A Judgment on Iraq
By Wesley K. Clark
Republican strategists could hardly be happier with the outcome of the Connecticut Democratic primary. And Democrats should be deeply concerned in the near term. But if I were a Republican, I’d recognize this as the beginning of the end. Forget about the neocons. This era is over.
Near term, for the Republicans, this is a triple-edged opportunity. First, the vote was close enough that, if Joe Lieberman follows through on his threat to run as an independent, there’s a strong possibility of his winning, with a lot of Republican support, and thereby raising the bar even further for the Democrats’ quest to regain control of the Senate this year.
Second, the fact that Mr. Lieberman lost the primary can also feed a national spin machine to talk about “feckless, antiwar Democrats,” “not strong enough to protect America,” and all the other noxious labels currently in play by the president’s defenders. And the third bonus effect for Republicans is to play up the story about how the Dems are split, and lack the unity to win midterm elections, much less govern.
For the Democrats, the election is a snapshot of a revolt in the making, but not yet done. The truth is that Democrats are as patriotic as Republicans, want a strong and secure America, and like every other American, want to trust the president and his team on national security issues. And perhaps, being in Washington, associating with the administration and lawmakers of the other party, it’s been more difficult for elected Democrats to sense the mounting rage in much of the electorate over the failures of President Bush’s policies, and especially the seemingly never-ending war in Iraq, and his blatant partisanship.
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