Finally a Democrat speaks intelligently about foreign policy and the Democrats. Much of what former Senator Gary Hart says in this op-ed is bang on. The Democrats should take the cotton out of their ears and put it in their mouths.
"Once again the Democratic Party finds itself on the defensive on defense. Congressional Democrats are responding to a Republican president's initiative, this time in Iraq. And we will continue to be on the defensive until we produce a cohesive foreign policy that spells out our plans for national security and homeland security and describes the circumstances under which American force can be used abroad."
And this:
"Alas, as a party, Democrats abdicated leadership. Recent speeches by Democratic leaders critical of the current administration have failed to offer a coherent foreign policy alternative to the president's plans."
Concluding with this:
"There are alternatives to Republican-dominated defense thinking generally. But we will not hear them so long as the Democratic Party continues to confine itself to reacting to Republican initiatives and thus continues to shy away from leadership on the security of our nation. On national security, at least as much as on domestic priorities, the American people deserve to know what the Democratic Party is for — and not just what it is against."
When I was a writer at The Daily Cougar in Houston, this is what I got the most upset about. It is something I wrote about on countless occasions. The Democrats in general, and Clinton in particular, just seemed to drift from crisis to crisis without a VISION. A structure, a template. Something. But for eight years they drifted.
I simply refuse to believe that no Democrat in Washington has come up with a better vision for America than the arrogant, divisive and un-American plan that the Wolfowitz cabal has created. There must be a better way.
I have long believed that the Democrats have a superior vision on foreign policy, if only they would formulate it. It is a vision that does not solely rely on the use of power in international affairs, but one that is not afraid of it, with humility and deep reserve. It is a vision dedicated to our values and their expansion abroad. And it is a vision that recognizes the inherent danger in the world, and the limitations we face remaking it in our image. No one listened.
Maybe now they will, that the stakes are so high.
Note to Daschle and Gephardt: I'm available to help you formulate that policy.
Posted by Sean-Paul @ 10/03/2002 09:54 PM
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