One of the constant laments regarding the Democratic Party is their inability to effectively punch and counter punch with Republicans. Given the extraordianry amount of material Democrats have, it is pretty amazing.
The first Republican narrative which has stung the Democrats is obviously the surge. John McCain, on a daily basis, demands that Barrack Obama recognize that the surge has worked, that McCain was right and that Obama was wrong. McCain pretty much takes full credit for the success of the surge. This is rich. And yet so far, it is amazingly effective, at least at making Democrats stutter and seem defensive.
One of the constant laments regarding the Democratic Party is their inability to effectively punch and counter punch with Republicans. Given the extraordianry amount of material Democrats have, it is pretty amazing.
The first Republican narrative which has stung the Democrats is obviously the surge. John McCain, on a daily basis, demands that Barrack Obama recognize that the surge has worked, that McCain was right and that Obama was wrong. McCain pretty much takes full credit for the success of the surge. This is rich. And yet so far, it is amazingly effective, at least at making Democrats stutter and seem defensive.
Why can't Democrats point something like this out:
John McCain vigorously wanted more troops, Don Rumsfeld fired and a change in strategy in 2003. He failed to achieve it. John McCain vigorously wanted more troops, Don Rumsfeld fired and a change in strategy in 2004. Again, he failed. John McCain vigorously wanted more troops, Don Rumsfeld fired and a change in strategy in 2005. Same result. John McCain vigorously wanted more troops, Don Rumsfeld fired and a change in strategy from Janaury 2006 to November 2006. Failed.
According to McCain, beggining in November of 2006, or whatever other time frame he makes up, he decided to begin to save America and darn it he succeeded. Well, not for nothin', there was a little election in November 2006, and the Republicans lost control of both houses. Up until that time, George Bush was adamantly in support of the Iraq strategy, "Stay the Course", and of Don Rumsfeld, "I'm the decider and Rumsfeld stays."
Our democracy, the inspiration it can be, changed all that. It changed everything the day after the elections. ONE DAY!! One day after the election the nightmare of Don Rumsfeld, one of the most incompetent and deranged people to ever serve in our government, much less lead all of our armed forces was finally gone. He was replaced not by another lunatic, but by Robert Gates, who is competent and came right from the Iraq Study Group which was a competent body made up of experts who adamently disagreed with the Bush approach, if you can call it that. Thus, is it perhaps possible that after the 2006 election, when some of the lunatics in the Bush Administration lost influence and gave way to more able people, that this had some positive effect on the Iraq situation?
From this perspective, credit for the change in strategy goes to the American people. Credit for implementing the changed strategy goes to the troops. John McCain may have wanted the changes brought about, but in reality he had very little to do with it.
So first, we should ask John McCain why after so many years of failure, does he think he deserves credit for changes in strategy over the American people. Second, we should point out that after the debacle and disgrace of Iraq, there is no politician in Washington who should be proud of what they have accomplished with respect to Iraq. I mean seriously, is John McCain really proud of what he personally accomplished in Iraq? Does John McCain really think he actually succeeded in Iraq? On a list from one to one hundred, where does John McCain think he ranks in terms of our so called success in Iraq? Is he above the American people, above the troops, above the iraqi people, above our unborn grandchildren funding this war? How can any self respecting DC politician claim to even merit mention on such a list after such a historically disgraceful policy?
Finally, it may behoove Democrats to point out that where John McCain has stood with the American people, hindsight has shown he has been right to side with us, i.e. a change in strategy, Rumsfeld, torture. Where he has stood with Bush, initial invasion, initial invasion strategy, belief the war would be easy, belief we would be greeted as liberators, belief the war had been won, and the de-emphasis of Afghanistan(to name a few), hindsight shows he has been wrong. As we head into this election, John McCain is unfortunaltely once again standing with George Bush and not the American people in refusing to formulate a coherent exit strategy. HOW COULD HE HAVE NOT LEARNED HIS LESSON? Regardless of any success in Iraq, Iraq is still tough and still difficult. Should the American people, as they did in 2006, determine the directionnof Iraq? Or should George Bush and John McCain lead the way? We've seen the results of both.