Dems caught in their own quagmire

There's a lot of buzz around the blogland about the disconnect between the Dem power structure and the progressive base. Kevin Drum articulates my take on it, only more eloquently.

Berman is right about this disconnect. Over a third of Americans now favor an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, a number that's been growing steadily, but none of the "serious" public faces of the party — people like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and John Kerry — are ready to join them. Not one. I can't think of a single exception.

This is shaping up to be a big problem. Right now, conventional wisdom suggests that Iraq is likely to be bad news for Republicans in the 2006 elections, but if liberals don't watch out, the disconnect that Berman identified could cause an even bigger crackup on the Democratic side. The dovish left is losing patience with establishment hawks, and if this continues we can be sure that Karl Rove will do his best to hammer this wedge straight through the heart of the Democratic party as the 2006 midterms begin to heat up.

Really, has anybody even noticed that there is a Democratic party? Where are the leaders of this alleged entity? Are they all cowering in some corner commissioning polling studies that they apparently don't read? I haven't seen such pallid and ineffectual minority representation in decades of political watchdogging.

Instead of taking the lead and establishing a strong identity - and could there be a more perfect time than right now - they strategize on how to homogonize their message so as not to offend anyone. Screw that. Either stand for something or you stand for nothing.

Kevin is right. They ignore the peace progressives at their own peril. We voted for Kerry, but reluctantly, and we let him put on his military hat and chase the mythical centrist vote for the good of the election. But we expected the party to learn from the loss in 04 and stop promoting war and start espousing diplomacy as a solution. Especially now that those centrists have stepped over the imaginary line and joined us.

Drum says it would take a gutsy politician to step forward and pick up the flag on this issue, but he details a very attractive and sensible alternative for a savvy candidate to call for a timed withdrawal. Begging the question, does such a person exist in the Democratic party anymore?

Personally I don't think it should have to take that much courage to stand up and do what's so clearly right for the good of the country. In fact, any candidate that doesn't have the guts to stand up now and call for a metric-based plan to end this debacle in Iraq, shouldn't count on my vote in 08.