Who Are They Kidding?

Quote Of The Day

"And the reality is, in national elections, I believe to win you have to cross three hurdles. First, you have to demonstrate your strength and trustworthiness on national security. You have to demonstrate that your values are squarely in the mainstream of America. And, three, you have to demonstrate as a Democrat that you can be trusted on taxes, economic and fiscal policy. If we do those things, I believe we better improve our chances of winning. If we don’t, I think we run the risk of being so excited and enthusiastic that we miss an opportunity, an historic moment, to not only build a majority but to gain a chance to govern. What we’re really asking the American people to do in 2008 is to trust us, to invest in us with the power to govern and lead this country." — Harold Ford Jr., chair of the moderate-liberal Democratic Leadership Council and a former Congressman


Ford makes some correct points. It is about trust on national security, values and on taxes and economic policy. And on all three counts, the Dems have work to do. On national security, they have a problem in that they have not articulated any coherent vision for projecting American power globally and what our role in the world ought to be. They define it more in terms of what they would and would not do differently than the current administration, not in terms of what they believe to be America's proper role. You can't trust the front running candidates words on the biggest national security issue of the day, Iraq, because what they say is either not credible or its a lie. In Obama's case, its not credible. He argues for a quick withdrawal from Iraq, but on logistical and practical grounds alone that simply isn't possible. In Hillary's case, she is simply lying. She vociferously declares she will get us out of Iraq, but she has clearly made an assessment that a pullout is not really doable as the Democrat left envisions it. She knows that the US will have to remain embroiled in Iraq likely for the next decade but she isn't saying that to her base because they don't want to hear it. So they are saying what is politically expedient and how can you trust that?

On values, give me a break. Their for abortion, for civil unions and gay marriage and in general for government management of the social agenda on behalf of nearly everything but traditional family values. On the economic front, they will increase taxes, they will sock it to business, they will raid the Pentagon budget and they will increase the size and intrusiveness of government. Not that the republicans have not managed to do that in the realm of health care (prescription med bill), education (no child left behind) and homeland security (patriot act, surveillance programs, etc.). The Dems will do the same, just in their own pet arenas.

If they are asking the American people to trust them to govern responsibly on the issues of security, values and fiscal policy, I think there is reason to doubt their prescriptions on all three counts.