It occurs to me that as Hillary Clinton's presidential candidacy sinks into history, it might be a good time for her to redeem herself in the eyes of Democrats, and to redeem the party in the eyes of the nation and the world, by organizing and leading an apology by her and other congressional Democrats who voted in favor of the Iraq war resolution. It seems to me that this can and should be a prominent part of the Democratic convention. It could be achieved either explicitly in a speech by Hillary Clinton herself, followed by speeches by other yay voters, or it could even be achieved implicitly such that each of those speakers makes their own apology for/recognition of their error. I think there would be three main, beneficial effects of this.
First, it would be very beneficial for Hillary Clinton if she took the lead on this issue. The pro-invasion vote (which is how it has always been perceived in spite of the details) has truly been an albatross around her neck during the entire campaign. I can recall that even before any of the democratic candidates announced, whenever Hillary Clinton's name came up, it was the vote for the use of force resolution that was most often mentioned as a negative. Later, it was her apparent lack of remorse for or even acknowledgement of the error that was most often mentioned. Of course, there are now many more issues that have arisen since those early days, but that vote is probably her most serious negative in the minds of her fellow Democrats even now, and will be in the future unless she takes some action. Leading a convention initiative to publically acknowledge the error and to lead other Democrats to do so as well would go a long way to rehabilitating her future political career, in my opinion.
Second, this kind of initiative would also help America's position in the eyes of the world. It would signify that one of the two major political parties--the party that is in ascendance at this point in time--is on record not only in favor of ending the war, but also of acknowledging the error of allowing it to take place in the first place.
Third, and perhaps most important in some respects, is that this would mark the strongest possible separation of the Democratic Party from the Republicans of GW Bush, and from their most divisive and harmful project, the Iraq war. The entire party would either not be associated with support for the commencement of the war (i.e., Obama), or would have acknowledged the error and issued an apology for it. I think that this would unify and energize the party from top to bottom, and would increase the magnitude of our victory in the Fall.
I hasten to mention that acknowledging the error and issuing an apology is not the same as having a policy toward the ongoing war in Iraq. That is a separate issue that must obviously be addressed, if not by the party, then by its presidential candidate. However, the party, and Hillary Clinton, can at least move past their complicity in enabling it.
Also, in terms of the apology itself, at a minimum, in spite of the misleading information issued by Bush's crew, each senator and congressman who voted in favor should apologize for not being sufficiently suspicious and for not investigating the facts more deeply. They could allude to the political/election climate, but I don't think it is necessary to impale themselves on their own swords. Just acknowledging the error and a mea culpa for not investigating more deeply would suffice, I think.
Please take the time to let me know what you think of this idea in the poll. Thanks.
Greg Shenaut