[Peace-discuss] Dems say surge worked

[n.dahlheim at mchsi.com]

Democrats are basically shooting themselves in the foot.  The legions of voters who came out to the 
polls in November 2006 disgusted with the economy and its lack of jobs and stability, angry about the 
Iraq war and the massive deceit and fraud surrounding it, and embitterd about the sustained assault on 
Constitutional rights and liberties that the Bush Administration has administered during its tenure in 
office have felt betrayed.  Many of these voters likely will not show up at the polls to vote for a pro-war 
Obama or Hillary, and they will be even less likely to vote for their Democratic Congressman or Senator 
who has a track record of letting them down since last November.  Only the right-wing religious groups 
and paranoid believers in the Bush Administration's fear propagation (notwithstanding the clear 
evidence of the 9/11 fraud) could show up at the polls in 2008....

Nonetheless, electoral politics really don't matter as the system is hopelessly broken and beholden to 
special interest groups and the uber wealthy....  A relocalization of politics and economics for the sake 
of the economy as well as the ecology is th ultimate direction in which social change must head.


----------------------  Original Message:  ---------------------
From:    "Michael Shapiro" <mshapiro51 at gmail.com>
To:      "Peace Discuss" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Subject: [Peace-discuss] Dems say surge worked
Date:    Sun, 25 Nov 2007 16:57:33 +0000

> Surprise, surprise! What more do the DEMs have to do to make Bush look like
> a prophet?
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/politics/25dems.html
> 
> *As Democrats See Security Gains in Iraq, Tone Shifts *
> 
> By Patrick Healy
> 
> November 25, 2007
> 
> As violence declines in Baghdad, the l*eading Democratic presidential
> candidates* are undertaking a new and challenging balancing act on
> Iraq: *acknowledging
> that success*, trying to shift the focus to the lack of political progress
> there, and highlighting more domestic concerns like health care and the
> economy.
> 
> Advisers to Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama say that the
> candidates have watched security conditions improve after the troop
> escalation in Iraq and concluded that it would be folly not to acknowledge
> those gains. At the same time, they are arguing that American casualties are
> still too high, that a quick withdrawal is the only way to end the war and
> that the so-called surge in additional troops has not paid off in political
> progress in Iraq.
> 
> But the changing situation suggests for the first time that the politics of
> the war could shift in the general election next year, particularly if the
> gains continue. While the Democratic candidates are continuing to assail the
> war — a popular position with many of the party's primary voters — they run
> the risk that Republicans will use those critiques to attack the party's
> nominee in the election as defeatist and lacking faith in the American
> military.
> 
> If security continues to improve, President Bush could become less of a drag
> on his party, too, and Republicans may have an easier time zeroing in on
> other issues, such as how the Democrats have proposed raising taxes in
> difficult economic times.
> 
> "The politics of Iraq are going to change dramatically in the general
> election, assuming Iraq continues to show some hopefulness," said Michael E.
> O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who is a supporter of
> Mrs. Clinton's and a proponent of the military buildup. "If Iraq looks at
> least partly salvageable, it will be important to explain as a candidate how
> you would salvage it — how you would get our troops out and not lose the
> war. The Democrats need to be very careful with what they say and not hem
> themselves in."
> 
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