Via Yglesias From The Note:
Spotted on Capitol Hill yesterday: Wes Clark, speaking, according to a source who was there, to a standing-room-only gathering of Democratic Senate staffers with a national security bent. Clark gave an upbeat account of the Party's fight to forge policy alternatives to President Bush's plans. He urged Democrats to stop talking about exit strategies and timelines and focus on how to win in Iraq.
He also joined Leaders Reid and Pelosi for a closed-door meeting of their newly announced National Security Advisory Group, including bold-faced names Perry and Albright.
So apparently, Clark and a few others are forming a group to advise Democrats on National Security issues. I call this a good move.
Matt goes on further:
but the important thing to note is that you can't just whip up some issues and an "image" cooked to order when it comes time to run a presidential campaign. You need to have some idea of what it is you're trying to market, and some experience with various people actually trying to market it. And perhaps most important of all, one key element of "image" is not looking uncomfortable discussing these topics, and one easy way to do that is to actually be comfortable and confident that you know what you're talking about and understand where you want to take the country.
Ahh, yes. That was the thing about Clark. During the campaign, he wasn't very comfortable talking about domestic issues, but you'd get him going on foreign policy and security and it was like Mr. Rodgers putting on his Cardigan sweater and tennis shoes.
I'm glad that we helped to get this topic up in the air, and I'm glad more Democrats are starting to take it seriously. As Matt notes, the room was packed with Senate staffers. That's a good start.
This isn't a hard frame. The fact of the matter is, Republican foreign policy is based on being a coward. I don't think Americans want to be known as cowards, and if someone comes along who will lead them out of the darkness, they will approve. We need more Democrats to address this.