I've been giving a lot of thought over the past few months to how the Democrats can gain ground on terrorism in the next few years. It should be clear to most of America that the Republicans' approach was basically knee-jerk and they have done little of the common sense approaches a true War on Terror would suggest. In fact, they have made things worse in many ways, stoking anti-Americanism in the Middle East, tying up our resources there, and alienating allies we desparately need.
So here's my humble suggestion for '08: the Democrats claim the next evolution of the War on Terrorism. We could call it the War on Terrorism 2.0 or something else along those lines. We could argue that we will correct the administration's failures by focusing on strenthening multilateral ties and intelligence sharing, homeland security, counter-proliferation, and, above all, American branding to defuse anti-Americanism.
Now this is just a message idea, and its easier said than done, but I think something like this has potential. Any thoughts?