The war’s no gimme for Dems
February 28th, 2008 by David ShapiroDemocrats are getting most of the presidential attention as Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton slug it out for their party’s nomination while Republican Sen. John McCain has sewn up the GOP nomination and awaits an opponent.
But the Democrats would make a mistake to confuse excitement with momentum; the latest Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll contains a lot of encouragement for Republicans.
It’s not so much that McCain is running slightly ahead of both Obama and Clinton in overall popularity — horse races don’t matter much until after Labor Day, if then — but that voters agree with him on most issues, including the pivotal war in Iraq.
McCain, a leading defender of current Iraq policy, holds his own against the critical Democrats on the war, and runs 37 points ahead of the Democratic frontrunner Obama on the larger issue of terrorism.
This will be the biggest challenge facing whichever Democrat runs against McCain in November.
Sixty percent of voters think it was a mistake to invade Iraq, and President Bush’s approval hovers at a dismal 35 percent as the war grinds on.
But this doesn’t mean that national security still isn’t of paramount concern to voters, or that they trust the less experienced Democrats to be tough enough to hold terrorists at bay.
While most Americans don’t like wrongly invading a foreign country, they like it even less when we’re attacked ourselves.
The Democrats need to be careful that they don’t win the debate with McCain over whether or not invading Iraq was a blunder, but lose the bigger argument over what needs to be done going forward to keep our country safe.
February 28th, 2008 at 7:17 am
You bet, the war’s no gimme for the democrats.
Five years after the fall of Bagdad Iraq’s presidential council hasn’t even arrived at a power sharing deal among the parties. And Afghanistan is being threatened by the taliban and others. Guess we have to go back and beg Nato for help, again. There’s insufficient reserve in our armed forces and reserves or guard to adequately defend against other immerging threats or even national disasters such as hurricanes or earthquakes. Our own government has used alarm and fear to monger their misdeeds at the expense of our constitution and could lead down the road to perdition.
An’ the economy- what’s left of it- is in a shambles and might hold together just long enough before it crashes outright for the rich man’s club party to blame it on the next president and/or congress.
Our dollar is at a low: don’t bother to travel overseas if you could afford it before it’ll take more sacrifices out of your budget now. Anyway, they don’t respect our president overseas. And our departure from homeland security has put the “travail” back in travel; even sick babies are not safe anymore.
Gas (the one that is the propellant for your car, not more of the republican nonsense) is at an all time high.
Our children are obligated to an enormous national debt while the rich somehow get tax write offs. Our education system doesn’t focus on the students.
Our bridges/dams/roads, hell ALL of our vital infrastructure and utilities are in poor repair and too often minimally safe or worse.
Yeah, no gimmes for us at all… ‘cept, by the grace of God, we’ll have a new Democratic president, and things will finally improve.
Go Obama.
February 28th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Don’t we wish that Condi Rice, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney had paid attention to the warning of an imminent attack before 9/11? Don’t we wish that whoever is in power would stop using the American military to intefer in other countries policies for corporate gain? Don’t we wish that everytime people in other countries; Palestine, Iraq, etc. try to defend themselves from the Occupiers, Irael and the U.S., that the term “terrorism” is used to provoke fear? It is sad that after John McCains’s experiences in Vietnam that he didn’t return home to work to end the idea of war as a means of settling conflicts. I am looking for a Peace Candidate for 2008. The U.S. wastes so many lives and so much money on weapons of mass destruction. We are not more secure. Shouldn’t we value our childrens future more?
February 28th, 2008 at 9:59 am
ronald reagan,in a thanksgiving interview in 1981 with barbra walters, said the biggest threat to our freedom is not foreign governments but our own government…(although he was an activist for using federal gov’t. to promote conservative values)… getting rid of the patriot act would be a first step to restore our personal liberties…
February 28th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Vacate entire middle east. Protect U.S. borders from terrorist attacks. Mandate all passenger cars to have minimum 40 miles per gal. U.S. can itself produce all oil it needs based on 40 mpg or greater.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
you got it wrong again. The war in iraq is not about national security - that’s what bushy wants you to believe. But rather, it is about money for himself and his rich cohorts.
The national security problem will cure itself if the US ceases to butt their nose into foreign countries - trying to impose our values and principles upon them.
Japan has learned the lesson, to not impose their will upon others. Do they have a global security problem?
The U.S. always wants to be the big brother - the imperialist pig. If we treat other people with respect and dignity, they will not threaten us. And by supporting the jews, the U.S. is fueling the problem with the muslims.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Observer,
I’m not saying the Republicans are right, just that people are showing willingness to listen to what they’re saying and the Democratic nominee had better have stronger answers than you’ve offered. If you think I’m wrong about that, you’re in for a big disappointment come November.
Dave
February 29th, 2008 at 1:05 am
McCain uses that war hero crap ad nauseum. I don’t think there is a single person that doesn’t admire him for going through what he did as a POW. But since when does being a POW qualify someone to be the President of the United States?
I have heard that McCain is hot tempered, flares up in a split second and can very childish. Is that the type of guy we want leading our great country? Shoot and ask questions later? McCain is so far off the charts that he’s talking about leaving our troops in Iraq for another 20 years.
No way, Obama all the way. Vote for the local boy!
February 29th, 2008 at 1:10 am
Dave-
I think you are wrong on this one. McCain has the same schtick and is the republican’s John Kerry. He’s a retread who has been around a long time without a distinguished record. People want change and will get change with our local boy “Barry” Obama.
It will be you who will be in for a big surprise this November when you will have to congratulate President Obama on a job well done.
Enjoy your column and keep writing.
Aloha-Makapipi
February 29th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I cannot locate a single factual or logical reference in the entire swarm of the Democrat tin foil hat brigade that dominates this blog.
Thanks to Dave’s purging of anyone disagreeing with him, predictably, this forum became a refuge for the lunatic fringe.
QED
March 1st, 2008 at 7:41 am
Folks the war has cost the American People 3 trillion dollars. That is borrowed money from other countries. We are not safer, and that was never the issue. McCain represents more of the same lies, more of the same illusions, more of the same delusions while debt for our children rises. Listening to Bush this week briefly on the state of the economy, I concluded that apparantly Bush lives in some insulated house untouched by reality. McCain has supported that unreality.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Umm, you might want to check the real world. Obama is running anead of McCain by 12 points on the NYT poll.
Don’t confuse fearmongering with realism. 2006 showed what happens to GOPs who want to keep pushing an illegal and immoral war.
McCain finished 894th out of 899 at the Naval Academy and flipped on every issue from tax cuts to the environment. Obama was Pres of the Harvard Law Review. Did you catch the Obama put down of McCain’s lame attack about al Qaeda in Iraq. McCain is just not the man for the task.
You really think there is a race?
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:11 pm
What has obama ever done? As a congresman, what bills has he written to help you? Think about this before you vote. If you belive what ever someone says maybe I should run for pres.
March 4th, 2008 at 7:48 am
What has Obama done? Some highlights.
He cowrote and cosponsored the following, all now Federal law:
-The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (aka the Coburn-Obama Act).
-The Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act (aka the Lugar-Obama Act).
-The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (colloquially known as the lobbying reform bill or the ethics act).
-The Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act.
He also wrote numerous amendments to other bills, including an amendment to SCHIP that would have afforded greater job protection for family members caring for injured combat veterans. Unfortunately, Pres. Bush vetoed SCHIP.
In addition, just last month he introduced a bill that would mandate improvements at VA facilities like Walter Reed Medical Center, improvements the Bush Administration has neglected to fully act on.
In January, he introduced the Iraq War De-Escalation Act, which would begin phased redeployment of American forces in Iraq and require the Iraqi government to meet political benchmarks consistent with the bipartisan Iraq Study Group’s Report.