The political aftermath of the Iraq war seems certain. We hear a unified voice from Democrats and the Main Stream Media. We have been told from day one what the outcome would be. Indeed, it has been the untiring, unflinching, and dogged political strategy of Democrats and the left to produce this outcome. It is a political victory and they believe they have achieved it.
E.J. Dionne Jr. articulates, in this article, how Democrats have acheived their well fought propaganda victory.
But those who spent the past four years hyping threats, underestimating costs, ignoring rational warnings, painting unrealistic futures and savaging their opponents have been discredited. This awakening is the first step toward rebuilding our country’s influence and power. ~washingtonpost.com
Dionne characterizes the neo-con agenda as one which is built on lies, political manuevering, hubris, and incompetence– and by extension the political opponents of this, “botched war,” have been proven to be highly principled and honored to be correct and true.
On the contrary, this botched war is far more likely to lead to what might properly be called the Post-Bush Awakening. It is an awakening to the danger of viewing critics as traitors, to the costs of making everything about politics and to the sad tendency of establishmentarians to seek refuge within the boundaries of prevailing opinion. ~washingtonpost.com
From my perspective it has been the left and Democrats who began by calling Bush and the neo-cons as traitors, who make every single issue about politics, and who seek refuge in prevailing opinion.
The proof that this is true should be apparent to even the dimmest political observer. It was Democrats who voted for the war when support was far beyond majority. It was Democrats who cravenly gave their rubber stamp to the invasion even as they planned to undermine it.
The Rockefeller Memo outlines clearly how Democrats planned to call Bush a liar even as they repeated the claims of the Clinton Administration about Weapons of Mass Destruction. Is this the ‘Morning in America’ that Dionne is talking about? Treason and betrayal? Political manuevering and opportunism?
It basically echoes the same old tired argument from the left that conservatives are, “dividing America,” by continuing to have their own views and political outlook. It is the equivalent of blaming all disagreement on the failure of Bush to be a Democrat. My way or the highway is a Democratic position.
Democrats and the left have succeeded in defeating Bush’s policies in the Main Stream Media. They have won the propaganda war. But it is the kind of victory won in the service of lies and propaganda. Like Saddam’s Information Minister, Al Sahaf, who declared the American’s defeated even as they decimated Iraqi forces and disintegrated Saddam’s defences, Democrats know how to declare that we are defeated and disgraced in order to secure their own political victory. But at what cost?