A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics
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A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics | |
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December 15, 2003Credibility GapsThe Bush administration has suffered from a credibility gap ever since the weapons of mass destruction thought to be in Iraq's possession proved impossible to find. They have one last chance to redeem themselves if Saddam chooses to talk and (fat chance) tells us where he's been hiding them. But the capture of Saddam exposes the credibility gap on the Democratic side. It's my impression that the Democratic candidates have been circumspect with analogies of Iraq to Vietnam, but their supporters, most recently Al Gore, have been a lot quicker to use the Q-word (quagmire). In Vietnam, we never occupied Hanoi. We're ahead of the game right there. We never captured Ho Chi Minh, and now we have Saddam. The site of his capture, a house not far from his birthplace, is indicative of the unsuitability of the landscape of Iraq for sustained guerilla warfare, as compared to Vietnam or Afghanistan. There were and continue to be problems with the President's policy in Iraq and in the Middle East. But the strong emotions felt by anti-Bush partisans caused them to exaggerate the extent of the problem (see Al Gore's use of the word "catastrophic"). By raising expectations of disaster, these partisans no longer seem credible themselves. Why would American voters want to turn over their safety and security to them? Posted by rickheller at December 15, 2003 08:57 AMComments
I think what we have right now may be a pivoting point. The combination of Gore's endorsement last week and Saddam's capture over the weekend kind of juxtaposes the likelihood of a Dean nomination with the possibility that his key issue won't be salient by election day. So there's a lot of murmuring and grumbling and wondering if maybe we shouldn't look elsewhere. It could be a pivoting point. But I wonder if those of us in the anti-Dean camp are really prepared to move things in a different direction. Dean's people are really much more organized than the rest of us, frankly. Posted by: William Swann at December 15, 2003 12:02 PMI'm not sure what the capture of Saddam has to do with the Dems credibility. The Dean stance is that this war was misguided. That is somewhat better now that Saddam is in US hands does not change the fact that it is still a pretty dismal situation with no end in sight. I really do think the Iraq situation CAN improve, but the terrorism situation around the world will get much worse. The assasination attempt in Pakistan is a good example. That country has nukes and no clear line of sucession. That is scary. Posted by: cn at December 15, 2003 06:48 PMI am arguing precisely against the notion that the situation is dismal and that there is no end in sight. Sure, we can certainly question whether it was worth going into Iraq given the lack of an imminent threat, and regret the loss of life, but this event illustrates that many Democrats have been caught up in excess negativity. And doom and gloom is generally a losing platform to run for office. Posted by: rickheller at December 15, 2003 09:37 PM |
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