Near-Sighted Democrats Opt For Political Version of "Small Ball"

Senate Republicans once again beat-back a Euro-Dem non-binding resolution that would have expressed strong opposition to the  Iraq troop surge.  I'm sad to see that seven round-heeled Senate Republicans decided to make the political calculus of siding with the Democrats in supporting cloture.  While the Democrats can't officially claim bipartisan support for their resolution in the absence of a legitimate up-or-down vote, they will try to make political hay using the Republicans that voted to end debate.  These seven Republicans are a huge disappointment, dare I say disgrace.

In any event, the Democratic Party is working hard to confirm their post-Vietnam reputation of being weak and cowardly on national security issues.  Had they not decided to pander to pressure from their nut-root base following their votes to support the Iraq invasion, they could have made significant headway toward rehabilitating themselves and becoming more palatable to centrist voters on national security.  Beginning with John Kerry's ill-fated attempt to win the presidency, instead of whining about what the President did or didn't do right in Iraq, the Democrats should have followed the advice of former President Bill Clinton and matched the Republicans' toughness on national security while looking for other areas in which to draw contrasts.  The Dems won in 2006 because of the bizarre Republican strategy to soft-peddle the war and run from the President - a decision that in the end only alienated conservative voters.  By revealing their national security fecklessness with a clumsy and cynical effort to find some middle ground between undermining the mission a little or undermining the mission a lot, the Democrats are not playing for the big picture.  By playing "small ball," the Democrats are harming our war effort in the immediate term and their own chances at regaining long-standing political power over the long haul.

Then there's Michigan Democratic Senator Carl Levin, who on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, wouldn't even extend any praise to the Administration for the recent deal struck with North Korea to purportedly end Kim il-Jong's pursuit of nuclear weapons.  I must throw out a disclaimer.  I am not a supporter of the deal because I don't believe in the honor of the North Korean regime to adhere to any agreements made with foreign powers.  My criticism, however, is from the political right.  The Democrats, to the contrary, love these little negotiated settlements.  Levin's criticism is that, in his opinion, the Administration should have made the deal toward the beginning of the Bush Presidency.  Failure from having done so therefore disqualifies the Administration from receiving any credit for reaching the kind of deal for which the Democrats live.  In arguing how the Bush Administration should have built on the achievements of the Clinton Administration regarding North Korea, it's comical how Senator Levin has completely whitewashed the reality that the North Koreans reneged on the "deal" forged by Bill Clinton and then-Secretary of State Madeline Albright.  It was actually after being caught cheating by the Bush Administration that the North Koreans admitted their infidelity to the world.

But that what happens when a major political party decides to play small-ball.