I'm thankful all year long for the quiet insights of Peggy Noonan*, who says this about the current political quagmire trapping both Republicans and Democrats:
I have a view on what Washington itself should do. It should get serious. We have men and women in the field, on the ground, putting themselves in harm's way for us, for our country, for our system, for the way we do things and what we are in history. They deserve--they require and have earned--our gravest sincerity and seriousness.Democrats who are thoughtful and not just in it for the game should come forward and explain why they backed the Iraq invasion, and what has changed, what they feel is at stake, and what they feel will be the repercussions of unsteadiness or ambivalence or withdrawal, or what will potentially be gained by a declaration of mistake. Republicans should stop with the "How dare you question us at such a dramatic moment, what's wrong with you?"
This is not a mere domestic political battle. We need a serious presentation, one not weighed down with slogans--I cannot tell you how tired people are of "They hate us because we're free"--about what victory will look like, and mean, and be achieved, and what price we will pay for not achieving it. We need to hear, in statements that are not at all emotional or full of passive aggressive push-pull, how the world and the United States are better for our being there. And this is not too much to ask.
*Author of a splendid new book, John Paul the Great : Remembering a Spiritual Father .
Posted by Alan at November 23, 2005 12:11 AM