In case you missed it, both Barack and Joe Biden got hammered this morning on the subject of the so-called "surge." Each permitted himself to be backed into an equivocal and meandering response to the question of whether "the surge" has succeeded. The alleged success of the surge has become the accepted narrative in the press - both Stephanopoulos and Brokaw took the success of the surge as a given.
I hate to say this, but Barack blew it on the O'Reilly show the other night when he said the surge had "succeeded beyond our wildest dreams." This is the mistake Kerry made in 2004. He is failing to take the fight to McCain on the issue of Iraq. It is a fact that the surge has failed. Why can't Obama bring himself to say that?
The Obama campaign has apparently concluded that the argument that the surge has failed is too nuanced, and beyond the grasp of the voter. This is a tragic, tragic mistake. Both Obama and Biden could have responded very aggressively to Stephanopoulos's and Brokaw's surge cheerleading in the following direct and succinct manner:
"[George] [Tom], the surge has failed to achieve its objective, the very objective the president identified when he accounced the surge: political reconciliation among Iraqis. The president - and John McCain - believed that the competing factions in Iraq would achieve political reconciliation if they had the "breathing space" afforded by a reduction in violence. I and others in the democratic party argued that the Iraqi government wouldn't make the hard choices necessary for political reconciliation if it believe the U.S. commitment was open-ended and that U.S. troops would be there to protect that Iraqi government from the consequences of its own failure to achieve political progress.
[George] [Tom], could it be any clearer that the president and McCain were wrong about the way the Iraqi government would respond to the surge? And that I and my fellow democrats were right? The surge, like the entire Iraq war, is another case of our troops and commanders flawlessly executing our strategy, but our political leaders prescribing a fatally flawed strategy. Yes, violence is down, and for that we're all thankful, but the reduction in violence was a means to an end, that end being the kind of political reconciliation in Iraq that would assure that violence would continue to fall even after the surge ended. The surge has failed to achieve that end.
Look, [George] [Tom], the next time the president or John McCain tell you the surge is a success, ask them why we can't then bring the surge to an end and bring our troops home. They'll tell that there's too much of a risk that violence will again increase. And they're right - there is that risk, and it's a very real risk. But that risk exists precisely because the president and John McCain were wrong - Iraqi politicians did not take advantage of the reduction in violence achieved by our troops' sacrifice. They did not make the hard choices necessary for political reconciliation, and over 1100 American troops have died in Iraq while the Iraqi government has failed to achieve political reconciliation. The risk that the president and John McCain warn us of - the potential for more violence if we end the surge - exists precisely because they were wrong when they believed the competing factions in Iraq would work seriously toward political reconciliation if violence were reduced. As I and many of my fellow democrats feared, the response of the competing factions in Iraq has been precisely the opposite.
Here's the hard truth, [George] [Tom], until the Iraqi politicians are forced to face the consequences of their political failures - and yes, those consequences are likely to be violent - they will not make the hard choices necessary for compromise and reconciliation. As long as they believe that the U.S. will surge troop levels whenever necessary to protect them from the violent consequences of their failure to compromise, they'll continue to dig in their heels and reject compromise. And our troops will continue to die in Iraq.
You want a shorter version?
Let's be clear, [George] [Tom], the surge, like the Iraq war itself, is a case of our troops flawlessly executing a hopelessly flawed strategy. The president and John McCain each believed Iraqi politicians would take advantage of a reduction in violence to achieve political reconciliation. They each believed that Iraqi politicians would make the hard choices necessary for political compromise if only they had the "breathing space" - that's they term they've used - the breathing space afforded by a reduction in violence.
I feared the reaction of the Iraqi politicians would be the opposite; that they'd dig in their heels even harder in negotiations for political reconciliation if they believed the Americans would surge more troops into Iraq to protect them from the violent consequences of their political failures. Remember, more than 1100 Americans troops have died in Iraq during the surge, and the competing factions in the Iraqi government each still insist on maintaining their own private, armed militias. That's not reconciliation. That's not even a functioning democracy. The president and John McCain again misread the Iraqi reaction to Americans actions, just as they were wrong when they predicted we'd be welcomed as liberators.
The surge is a failure. Obama and Biden must say so, and say so unequivocally. They can't say, in effect, "it succeeded, but not in the right way." That's just Kerry-speak. They can't engage in meandering responses to assertions by Sunday morning moderators of the surge's success. They need to call the surge a failure. They need to say that they were right and Bush/McSame were wrong. It's a compelling argument because it's true.
If this morning's appearances on Meet The Press and This Week are any indication, Obama and Biden still don't understand that. Right now the press is adopting the McCain narrative that the surge is a success. And the press will continue to do so as long as Obama and Biden can't bring themselves to say clearly and unmistakably that the surge has failed, that the Bush/McCain strategy was fatally flawed, that Bush and McCain were wrong, and that Obama and Biden were right.