Democrats Find Iraq Alternative Is Elusive: Party's Elite Differ on How to Shift U.S. Policy.
Which is all about the Donkey's having trouble coming up with an alternative plan to Bush on Iraq.
Take this quote from the guy I wish was running US foreign Policy right now:
"I'm not prepared to lay out a detailed policy or strategy," said former U.N. ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke, who was widely considered the leading candidate to be secretary of state if Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) had won the presidency last year. "It's not something you can expect in a situation that is moving this fast and has the level of detail you're looking for."
Personally I think that this is diplomatic talk (Very diplomatic guy, Richard Holbrooke) for "Bush screwed up Iraq so badly, its hard to come up with a plan to solve it." The Dems are in an impossible spot. They can and do offer all kinds of really good ideas on Iraq. The best idea was, of course, don't invade Iraq, but there were others. Just to start:
Bring enough troops to secure the country.
Plan for the rebuilding of the country.
Don't disban the Iraq army.
Of course, Bush won't take these ideas, things get screwed up in Iraq, and then the poor Donkey FP big thinkers keep having to come up with solutions to worse and worse problems. Solutions that are ignored and that wouldn't be needed if some of their good ideas were followed in the first place.
1 comment:
Like it or not, none of us has a nifty Delorean that goes back in time when it reaches 88 mph. We cannot undo, or redo, the last three elections. So, as painful as it may be, all that is left is for us to figure out how to go forward.
If the Dems are so befuddled by the current situation that they have no plan for going forward (exactly what the Repubs always accuse them of), then they have no business pretending to be an alternative political party. They need to step down and let others - the Libertarians, the Greens, whoever - take up the job of offering a real alternative to Republican policies.
Actually, I think Holbrooke is being "diplomatic" for another reason. He cannot lay out a detailed plan of any sort that won't get shot down by one Democrat or another - if not Sen. Lieberman, then Rep. Murtha. It's a shame to see the Dems continue to do what they do best - snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
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