Some might say it is too early to start thinking about the mid terms, but I think we can predict that certain themes will the center of that election and I believe it is in the Dems best interest to anticipate those themes and best position themselves through their actions now for the 2006 election.
So what do you guys think those themes will be?
I'm guessing that Iraq will be a central theme. I don't really see how we extricate ourselves from there over the next two years. The quagmire is deepening and it seems likely that the Fallujah offensive will bring more foreign fighters into the Iraq and make more Iraqi's hate the US because the narrative on Al Jazeera, and I assume other Arab news channels is that the US is killing civilians and committing war crimes and is taking significant losses while doing so.
I also think the insurgents will continue to get funding because it is in Saudi and Iranian interest for the insurgents to fight the US in Iraq. It is Saudi interest because the fighting in Iraq draws them out of Saudi Arabia and it is in Iranian interest because it keeps the US out of Iran.
Finally, I believe that the insurgents will get stronger as they survive more defeats because they will learn from their mistakes.
At the same time, we will see the US military increasingly stretched. Now that US troops can no longer be properly trained with the first mountain division in Iraq, an ever greater burden will fall on those in the Military with combat experience, which will lead to greater frustration and more war crimes and will lead to more indiscriminate bombing.
Given this, I don't see how we're out by 2006. Rather, I think the troop presence will remain at its current levels through then.
Is there any way the Dems can prepare for this, or can take advantage of it in the mid-terms?