Prevarication

What angers so many on the right about the Democrats' stance and attitude to the War in Iraq is not so much that they disagree with it - dissent is a defining feature of a free society and of the kind of government that arises in such a society. But dissent and willful undermining are different things.

Indeed, the Democrats have taken the position that the War in Iraq was a grave mistake and that we should never have engaged in such folly in the first place. Fine. There were many Republicans who might have felt similarly at the get-go, and if not then, then probably more so now after five years fighting. But what is so disgusting to many Americans, of all political persuasions, is that the Democrats, in large measure, have put their political aspirations and egos above the most important goals of all - supporting our troops and leaving Iraq in a stable, if not better state than when we invaded.

What I have been wanting to hear from the Democrat leadership for a long time is something like this: "We still think it was wrong to invade Iraq, but what's done is done. The fact is, we ARE there now, and wishing we weren't will not change anything. At this moment, we will put our differences behind us and work with our colleagues and all Americans to bring about a positive outcome in Iraq. First and foremost, we care about the safety and welfare of our troops, and to the extent that we can secure that for them with support- financial and moral - we will do it. Yes, we want to get them out of there as soon as possible, but we will do it no sooner than is necessary to prevent Iraq from devolving into a state of total lawlessness and chaos, no matter how much we would benefit politically from an immediate withdrawal. We recognize that defeat in Iraq would vindicate us and our stance on the war, but no amount of political triumph is worth our wishing for the deaths of our countrymen. This is not a matter in which we want to be able to wave our fingers in the faces of our Republican colleagues and say 'See, we told you so.' War and the security of this country is a matter that transcends ego, that goes beyond who's right and who's wrong. God Bless America.'


With the exception of a few maverick Democrats, Senator Lieberman among them, the Democrats have aligned their political success squarely on the failure and defeat of our troops in Iraq. What's worse is that, even when we do make headway in Iraq, as verified by independent groups that are the liberal brethren of the Dems (Brookings Institute), they still cannot bring themselves to admit that certain measures by their opponents are actually working. It's like a sickness. To these people, for example, Barack Obama, the War in Iraq is a tool to be used to show us whose wisdom and judgment is superior. So beholden to this kind of attitude are they, that they can't even answer a straight question, yes or no, from one of their own liberal cronies, Katie Couric. Here is a recent interview she had with Barack Obama in Jordan in which she had to ask three times if the surge had worked. Obama's prevarication and intransigence in admitting that the other side had been right with regard to the surge is appalling. So much for the politics of change. A real change-agent would have said, "Yes Katie, it did work, and although I was against the surge in the beginning, I can no longer deny it's efficacy." Such an admission wouldn't cause Senator Obama to renounce his overall position that the War in Iraq was and is folly, but admitting when he was wrong would really show Americans that his aims and objectives transcend his own personal gain, that they are are one and the same with the aims of our nation.