Today's
Washington Post takes an interesting look at six
Democratic Iraq War veterans who are running for Congress:
In 1974, public outrage over the Watergate scandal and Republican President Richard M. Nixon's administration swept a class of reform-minded Democrats into office. It's too soon to measure the impact of the war on the 2006 elections, but the handful of veterans pursuing seats in the House is an early indicator.
Are these veterans the key to restoring the Democratic Party's true image and breaking through the timidness of Don't-Hurt-Me-Democrats epitomized by Rahm Emmanuel, the DLC, and Sen. Obama's recent diary?
Early on, the
WaPo notes what many in the Dkos community already know:
The most recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll showed only 37 percent of Americans approve of Bush's handling of Iraq, with 62 percent disapproving.
Yes, the public has soured on Iraq, so it makes no sense for the Dem's to avoid criticizing Bush's mishandling of it. So why aren't they?
The explanation that "There is too much internal disagreement among Democrats about Iraq" is an incomplete, intellectually lazy assessment.
Dem's are avoiding tough criticism of Iraq --and failing to craft a unifying message that feautres Iraq prominently-- also because many prominent Dem's voted for the war and/or still think it was the right thing to do. These Dem's can't admit they were wrong, and both the Party and many of their colleagues are reticent to make them look bad by publicly challenging their previous judgement.
Furthermore, the Dem's remain utterly hamstrung by GOP-cultivated public perceptions that they are weak on national security and a concomitant fear of being publicly attacked by the Right as unpatriotic or for undermining the troops.
It is almost impossible to understate how intimidated Democratic Party leaders are by the latter, and how much they have even internalized Republican Right propaganda that their own party is weak on security.
The current leadership, in my opinion, is psychologically incapable of forthrightly adressing the Iraq debacle.
Democratic Iraq War veterans, however, don't have that problem --they know what they're talking about and they know how to talk about it:
"Some guys don't think it's time to question our government, but the fact is I love my country," said Murphy, 31, who fought with the 82nd Airborne Division. "We need to have an exit strategy now."
While fighting in Iraq, a private asked then-Capt. Murphy why U.S. forces were in the Persian Gulf nation and was told it didn't matter; there was a job to do and just try to return home safely.
"That wasn't the time to question our government," Murphy recalled.
Murphy is challenging first-term Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, a Republican in the northern Philadelphia suburbs of the 8th District.
I believe that Democratic Iraq vet's like Capt. Murphy, Paul Hackett and the others are the key to ending the Democratic Party's psychological constipation on Iraq.
They have unassailable credibility, bravery and patriotism. They defy the Republicans' mass-marketed stereotypes of Democrats. They are Iraq War veterans running for office as Democrats, and there are more of them than Republicans. They cannot be tagged with the baggage-laden label "anti-war":
Bryan Lentz, 41, an attorney from Swarthmore, Pa., volunteered to go to Iraq at age 39 with a civil affairs unit. The Army reserves major was so disillusioned by the lack of a plan in Iraq that he decided while he was in Iraq to run for Congress.
He is trying to unseat 10-term GOP Rep. Curt Weldon, who is vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
"I'm not anti-war, I'm anti-failure," Lentz said. "We need to define what victory is and we need to set a plan to get there. You cannot stay the course if you do not set a course."
I think these 6 candidates are potentially very high impact. They can win races, restore the Democratic Party's public image/brand vis-a-vis security, and push the Party leadership to take a stand on Iraq. We can all do our part by talking them-up, supporting their campaigns, and encouraging the Party to promote them proiminently.