California Conservative

I’ve been thinking that for awhile but now Mort Kondracke agrees with me:

From Iraq to SCHIP to the budget, energy policy, trade, terrorist surveillance, the mortgage crisis and even prescription drug costs and student test scores, top Bush aides say that events are turning in his direction and that they are trying to get the word out more effectively.

Indeed, there is some truth in what they say. For sure, developments in Iraq have taken a distinctly favorable turn, opening up the possibility that Bush could claim success for his policies by the end of his term.

Legislatively, Democrats have all but declared defeat in their effort to stop the war. At a luncheon with reporters last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) admitted that “when we said we would end the war, we never said that we had the veto pen or the signature pen…I don’t disagree with the public evaluation that we have not done well in ending this war.”

Iraq hung over Republicans’ collective necks during the 2006 campaign. While I won’t say that it’ll be a plus for Republicans, I’m perfectly comfortable saying that it won’t be a drag on their campaigns. With Iraqi civilian casualties and US military casualties dropping dramatically each of the last 4 months and with the news spreading about the Anbar Awakening, people can’t avoid hearing about the improvements in Iraq.

On the ground, Gen. David Petraeus’ “surge” strategy seems to be working, with
Sunni Arabs decisively turning against al-Qaida and Shiites beginning to reject the Mahdi Army militia of Muktada al-Sadr.

U.S. casualty levels are down to their lowest levels since 2003, Iraqi security force deaths are at their lowest level ever, and civilian deaths in September were down 77 percent below the level of last year.

“Democrats are stuck in the negative” on the war, a White House aide said in a session with columnists last week. “They are without a positive narrative,” although he said…this was last Friday…that the media had yet to catch up with favorable developments.

Every positive report from Iraq diminishes John Murtha’s ability to portray Iraq as a lost cause. He was the Democrats’ weapon of choice last fall in making the case against the Iraq war. The positive results of the Surge have rendered him almost useless to the Democrats.

That unnamed White House aide is exactly right in saying that Democrats are “without a positive narrative” about their Iraq agenda. When Democrats are asked about the improvements in Iraq during their debates, what will they say?

The SCHIP veto and Bush’s threats to veto appropriations bills as “fiscally
irresponsible”, even though they come in at only 1.8 percent above his own budget, are designed to encourage a demoralized GOP base.

Bush also is trumpeting the facts that the federal budget deficit is half of what it was two years ago and that in September job growth had continued for 49 months, a new record. He is using the fact that exports are now the prime driver of economic growth to push for Congressional approval of trade deals with Peru, Colombia, Panama and Korea.

In addition, White House aides point out, Bush’s Medicare prescription drug program last year cost $4 billion less than forecast owing to competitive forces that Democrats oppose and some school test scores are up, assertedly thanks to No Child Left Behind.

It’s time to pump up the volume when an entitlement program costs $4 billion less than budgeted. They should be touting this from the mountaintops. We should also be touting the fact that his tax cuts helped shrink the deficit in half. President Bush should also be telling people that the budget will balance if they simply stick with the path they’re already on.

Here’s something that I’d tell GOP strategists to highlight:

If the war proves not to be an unending nightmare, after all, it would certainly
be a boon for Bush and would raise the question of whether Democrats can ever be relied upon to pursue a foreign policy endeavor if the going gets difficult.

I’d pound Democrats mercilessly with their unwillingness to see things through in Iraq. The only reason why victory is still possible is because President Bush honored his commitment to our Iraqi allies. Simply put, the Anbar Awakening wouldn’t have happened under a Democratic administration. The post-9/11 world requires steadfast leadership. Thus far, there isn’t much proof that Democrats posess that type of steadfastness. Don’t think that voters won’t notice either.

That includes Hillary’s chameleon act on Iraq, too. She’s held almost every position imaginable…a month at a time. That isn’t what people are looking for in the leader of the free world. Comparing her lack of steadfastness with Rudy’s constant support for defeating the jihadists isn’t a flattering comparison for Hillary.

While I don’t know what the outcome of next November’s election will be, I know that there’s plenty of minefields in the Democrats’ path to victory. That isn’t what they hoped for when they regained control last November.

Technorati Tags: Iraq War, Anbar Awakening, David Petraeus, President Bush, SCHIP, Preidential Veto, foreign Policy, Budget Deficit, Hillary, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 7:13 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Election 2008, Foreign Policy, Hillary, Homeland Security, Iraq, Military, Pelosi, Terrorism, W. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.