By now we've all seen Darcy Burner and her fellow Democratic challengers' initiative to provide A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq.
It makes a strong case that, in the words of recent endorser Rand Beers, "Democrats can successfully and responsibly discuss national security issues of the first order, and discuss them in ways that represent real solutions to the real problems that we face".
But, being made by Democratic challengers, Congressional hopefuls, it makes another even stronger case, one that really supports a critical argument for Obama: that effective leaders need good judgement, more than experience. That the solutions to our toughest problems, including on national security, don't need to come from the experienced people who drove us into the ditch, but more likely will come from new leaders, people with sound judgement and strong work ethics, not long resumes, who can work together along with reality-based experts (in this case, non-partisan military & counter-terrorism professionals) to come up with the right approach and deliver the right solution.
Darcy and her band of "congressional hopefuls" challengers are thus helping make a critical point for Obama, with a solid example of the first order.
This Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq (finally!) isn't coming from career senators like McCain or "lifetime of experience" big names like Hillary Clinton. It's coming from people who are defined by their lack of experience ("hopefuls", "challengers"), yet who are right.
Since I happen to live in WA-08 (Darcy Burner's district), having witnessed her "inexperienced" first run for Senate in '06 , I find it quite fitting that this great case would be spearheaded by someone like her.
I remember discussions among Washington Kossaks and bloggers downtown Seattle in the run-up to the '06 campaign; when we were discussing WA-08 candidates, well aware that our congressional district ranked among the top Democratic pick-up opportunities nationally, most of us liked Darcy but many feared she was "too green" (as in too inexperienced, not too environmentalist ;)), to take on Dave Reichert.
She failed to ride the '06 waive, by a thin margin, in a tough district for Democrats. And so the country got another few years of Reichert an his votes for every failed Bush policy.
Today, Darcy is reminding us from the district of Bill Gates and Microsoft, that the person most qualified to engineer the right solutions isn't the one with the longest resume. It's the candidate who has the right smarts, passion and judgement to do the right work.
Hopefully the Media can pick-up on this narrative when they inevitably review the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq.
We, as progressives, should push this angle across the bloggosphere to help make it happen.