Konrad Ege has a good short piece in today’s issue of Freitag – Reumütige Wiederholungstäter – which highlights the problem with the Democratic Party in the US. Democrats have been accused by the Bush administration and its enablers in the media of being insufficiently pro-war, so many in the party are harkening back to the Cold War era, when Democrats led the huge anti-Soviet military build-up:
Umfrage auf Umfrage offenbart: In den USA wächst die Skepsis über den Irak-Feldzug. Die Demokraten träumen schon von den Kongresswahlen im November. Die Republikaner könnten ihre Mehrheit verlieren. Aber sicherheits- und außenpolitisch gäbe es wohl keine drastischen Veränderungen. Zu schwer lastet die imperiale Vergangenheit auf dem Umgang mit der realen Gefahr des islamischen Extremismus. Die Unbeweglichkeit zeigt sich bei Diskussionen in der Demokratischen Partei, bei denen Wortführer ebenfalls an den Kalten Krieg erinnern und auf die führende Rolle demokratischer Politiker verweisen, als es galt, den nationalen Konsens gegen den Kommunismus zu pflegen. Liberalismus des Kalten Krieges nannte man das. Zu Hause drängten die Liberalen die Regierung zu sozialen Reformen – im Ausland unterstützten sie Militärisches zur Stärkung des "amerikanischen Jahrhunderts".
Ege points out that Democrats voted to confirm the nomination of Michael Hayden as the new CIA chief, even though Hayden presided over the massive illegal wiretapping of US citizens while running the NSA. Cold War Democrats have rallied around Peter Beinart’s new book The Good Fight: Why Liberals – and Only Liberals – Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again. Beinart was a supporter of the Iraq invasion, and even though he now admits it was a mistake he worries that Democrats will renounce future military adventures. I suppose Hillary Clinton best represents this hawkish wing of the Democratic Party, and most pundits have already annointed her as the next candidate for the presidency in 2008.
But that would be a mistake. The Democrats need to admit – as most Americans now know – that the Iraq War is a catastrophic mistake and US troops need to withdraw immediately. They need to act against the sentiment for a military strike against Iran, and work with our international partners on diplomatic initiatives. They need to speak up for human rights and demand the closure of Guantanamo and other CIA secret detention facilities. Finally, Democrats need to speak in unison concerning constitutional rights and end the warrantless spying on American citizens. Which candidates can unify the Democrats and win the White House in 2008? Early days, yet, but Russ Feingold, Bill Richardson or Barack Obama come to mind.
UPDATE: This post was endorsed by the America for Richardson blog – go check it out. Richardson is also Olaf’s favorite candidate. Hey, I could get excited about this idea. After all, we did pretty well the last time a Bill was in the White House.
