archived: 31 Oct - 5 Nov, 2005 Back Next
UPDATED: November 3, 2005
YEN & YANG
Even though Senate Minority Leader Reid was calling Republicans to account, Congressional Democrats are still not calling for an end to the war in Iraq. Consider this disappointing development:
As the U.S. military death toll in Iraq reached 2,000 last week, three members of the Illinois congressional delegation said they support bringing troops home.
The most specific proposal came from [Republican] Rep. Don Manzullo, who said the United States should begin a phased-in withdrawal of troops after the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections in Iraq — provided that enough Iraqi troops have been trained to stabilize the country.
Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Springfield and Barack Obama of Chicago were more vague. Both urged the Bush administration to lay out a strategy to achieve stability in Iraq and bring U.S. troops home as soon as possible.
“America cannot stand by as we drift into an open-ended, long-term commitment in Iraq,” Durbin said in a statement Tuesday. “Our responsibility to these soldiers ... is to call on the president to share with our nation a clear path to stability in Iraq and the return of our troops at the earliest possible time.”
Obama said in an interview Friday: “We should start phasing out our military presence in Iraq. We have to have a very credible, specific plan to stabilize the country as soon as we can and get out as soon as we can.”
Manzullo, a Republican from Egan, has supported the war in Iraq from the beginning. The two senators have been consistent critics.
But Rock Valley College political science professor P.S. Ruckman said all the lawmakers’ positions have elements in common with President Bush’s position.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month that the administration’s plan is for U.S. troops to train Iraqi troops as fast as possible so they can fight insurgents in their own country.
Rice would not discuss specifics about how stable Iraq’s government must be or how effective its forces need to be before the 152,000 American troops in Iraq can start leaving.
Ruckman said Manzullo is more specific than Durbin and Obama because he mentions December as a possible start for the withdrawal. But the congressman also plays it safe, qualifying his position by saying Iraqi troops must be ready to stabilize the country.
“This may be an attempt to capitalize on ‘The president should have your children home by Christmas,’ ” he said.
Because the senators are more vague when calling for a troop withdrawal, their positions can’t be interpreted as a radical alternative to the president’s position, Ruckman said. “Durbin is attempting to present himself as a national leader, and that’s why his statement is not too much different from the president’s position.”
Durbin is No. 2 in the Senate’s Democratic leadership. – Rockford Register
Simply stated, Sens. Obama and Durbin are calling on Bush to table a plan to end the war, but they refuse to call for an end to war and the prompt withdrawal of troops. Republicans, like Manzullo, want to appear to be distancing themselves from Bush, but are really saying the same thing has the President.
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ABANDON SHIBBOLETHS
[Authored by Jay Greene*]
Junkie foreword: Jay’s article started as an email exchange with a friend who had raised the issue of health care in America. Green’s response addresses that issue as readers will note below. From Junkie’s perspective, Green outlines for Democrats a larger principle; a government that addresses real problems facing Americans and a government that recognizes the largest measure of individual freedoms possible consistent with national security. These could serve as two powerful principles of a Democratic Party dedicated to the preservation of constitutional democracy.
For further affirmation that Green’s board outlines are worthy of Democrats, read the recent polling from Democracy Corps below.
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It is so manifestly clear to me, and to many of us, that this country is in such a serious crisis of weak or failing infrastructure, that we are baffled and dismayed by the inability of a large proportion of the citizenry to see the same crisis.
Item: a health care system, with our ability to prevent and cure disease touted as the "best in the world" but which is increasingly unaffordable to providers, employers, and individuals;
Item: a deteriorating public education system;
Item: large areas of the public sector under funded and neglected.
When reforms are proposed, they are attacked because they would raise taxes and further enlarge "big government."
What these critics fail to see is that we already have big government. It is big in the wrong ways. It is bloated and spendthrift because it insists on seeing terrorism as a military and not a law enforcement threat.
It is bloated by huge "defense" expenditures for wars we brought on ourselves.
Why do we lack political people willing to step forward and demand we reorient our priorities, and insist in reinvesting in America, in the basics our citizens need?
I am very far from convinced the only way we can "reinvest" is by raising taxes and creating bigger government. A refocusing of our defense strategies, distinguishing our real interests abroad from our utopian desire to bring democracy to those parts of the world least suited to our brand of democracy, and a realization that the economy will be more sound and more broadly prosperous if adequate health care and good education are available to the greatest number of citizens, will result in federal and state governments better proportioned to our national needs and they will be no more costly, as a percentage of GNP, than at present.
All it takes is a realistic assessment of our needs and priorities and a willingness to abandon the [Republican] shibboleths of "smaller government" and "reduce taxation."
DEMOCRACY CORPS
Democracy Corps has just released its latest polling, completed prior to Libby’s indictment. Their conclusions:
The Republicans have lost hold of some fundamental things that will not be easily recouped. There is a broken bond here that leaves the party in a very different place.
Looking at the party on its own, just 38 percent describe the Republican Party now as “trustworthy” and “in touch;” 39 percent say they have “new ideas for addressing the country’s problems” and 40 percent say they have “the right priorities.” Critically, each of these has crashed 12 points from March, with the exception of priorities, which dropped 9 points. The muted excitement about the new administration clear in its direction and willing to take on tough issues has given way to judgments about an untrustworthy lot who are out of touch, with bad ideas and misplaced priorities. Only 42 percent say the Republicans are “on your side” (down 6 points). The voters reaffirm their judgment from earlier in the year that Republicans are part of the Washington mess (58 percent) and devoted to big corporate interests, not the middle class (68 percent).
The Democrats have emerged with huge advantages over the Republicans on a broad range of values and attributes – produced first by a pull back from the Republicans but also by not insignificant gains for the Democrats on some key measures. [T]he Republicans biggest declines in comparison with the Democrats have come on reform and change, cares about people, new ideas and thinking about the future, convictions, improving America and putting the public interest first. Barely 30 percent opt for the Republicans on advancing the public interest, trust, reform and change, for the middle class or for new ideas. Those are all well below the Republicans’ current vote for Congress.
As for the Democrats, Carville and Greenberg conclude:
It is important to underscore that important Democratic gains have come on putting the public interest first, knowing what they stand for, reform and change, and cares about people and families. In the comparison of the parties, the percent choosing the Democrat on each of these went up about 5 points from January. That is an important sign of progress, though we should note that on the majority of attribute comparisons, the percentage choosing the Democrats went up only two points or less.
Democrats looked at on their own (not in comparison to the Republicans) fare better with the voters now. In the aftermath of the presidential election, they were particularly weakened on clarity of beliefs and ideas and on values. Today, Democrats have improved 14 points on new ideas, which are a little surprising, though likely artificially suppressed last February. More typical of the best results are the 7 or 8 point gains on putting the public interest first, being for families, change, on your side and sharing your values.
Democrats have not made noticeable gains on thinking long term, standing up to the special interests, knowing what they stand for, or being trusted to keep America safe. These are not insignificant areas and they are relevant to the judgment people will make in November.
Now, go back and reread Jay Green’s advice for Democrats in the first article above.
Last Update: 03/23/2006