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The Bad News Is Good News for Democrats
New York Times ^
| October 30, 2003
| CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
Posted on 10/30/2003 5:31:08 AM PST by OESY
WASHINGTON Iraq is a mess, the world resents America and its debt-burdened economy is an international embarrassment. That was the Democratic perspective voiced at a conference that ended here on Wednesday, that things could hardly be more grim.
"The bad news is, we're headed in the wrong direction" said Sandy Berger, President Clinton's last national security adviser. "The worse news is we can't afford it."
So why, then, was there a smile on Mr. Berger's jowly face? Why was John Podesta, the former Clinton chief of staff, standing in the wings and shouting "Tremendous!" into a cellphone? And wasn't that the commanding Richard Holbrooke, the former United Nations ambassador, who boldly took the podium? "I'm a liberal," he thundered, "and I'm proud of it."
In the capital, the party out of power is always frustrated. But there is no better salve for being on the outs than watching on the sidelines as the party in power is struggling.
That was the tone of a two-day conference of diplomatic veterans who gathered in a hotel ballroom here in a fledgling attempt to define the Democratic view of "New American Strategies for Security and Peace." The conference, sponsored by the left-leaning American Prospect magazine, the Center for American Progress and the Century Foundation, drew some Democratic heavyweights who emerged from their exile in think tanks, high finance and academia, to criticize the Bush administration for steering the nation greviously off course.
The conference underscored how Democrats are finding a voice to challenge the administration on national security. They are reappropriating national symbols and insisting that their criticism is patriotic and in the best American traditions.
Mr. Berger said the administration's bent for unilateral action, its doctrine of pre-emptive force and its preference for coalitions over alliances represent "a radical shift in the nature of American foreign policy," and need to be scrapped. Other speakers asserted that the administration's decision to brand Iran and North Korea part of the "axis of evil" prompted those nations to speed up nuclear weapons research.
Joseph Cirincione, a nonproliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, stood in the lobby looking pleased. "It's nice to hear progressives say: this thing is dead wrong and here's how we're going to change it," he said. "They're inviting you to be part of the process. To take back the country."
The first thing Democratic strategists appear to have snatched is the Republican playbook. In the 90's, when Democrats were wrestling with intractable policy issues from Haiti to Bosnia, Republican intellectuals built a formidable phalanx of not-for-profit policy centers that were heavily financed, media savvy, and full of bold, specific recommendations. While Democrats looked for answers, centers like the Heritage Foundation, a conservative institute on Capitol Hill, churned out reams of position papers and captured some of the debate.
Mr. Podesta, the president of the Center for American Progress, said his new institute is determined to seize back some of that discussion and influence. "Our mission is to put before the American people new ideas and alternative strategies," he said in an interview.
Gen. Wesley K. Clark, a Democratic contender for president, endeared himself to the crowd by accusing the administration of making the nation more insecure not less.
The gloves were off. There was a sense that the administration is at last vulnerable.
Brett Lambert, a defense contractor, noticed the adjustments. Dozens of American flags more common at Republican functions met conference guests at every turn.
"It's nice to see a flag associated with progressive causes," he said. "And it isn't upside down."
TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2004; berger; carnegie; clark; clinton; debtburdenedeconomy; dems; embarrassment; heritage; holbrooke; international; liberals; liberalsecurity; peace; podesta; tremendous
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"It's nice to see a flag associated with progressive causes," he said. "And it isn't upside down." Isn't that cute?
Why do I suspect the Democrats in the 2004 campaign and at the Times just don't get it: The Bad News Is Good News for Democrats?
1
posted on
10/30/2003 5:31:09 AM PST
by
OESY
To: OESY
....and the better news is that the lemmings aren't buying the rats' droppings but; the fantastic news is that W will crush how-odd? dean next year!
2
posted on
10/30/2003 5:35:45 AM PST
by
jmaroneps37
(Jersey GOP needs your help we can win back the Assembly two weeks to go, step forward)
To: OESY
Here's a picture of the American flags they were distributing:
To: OESY
Our mission is to put before the American people new ideas and alternative strategiesThe very things BJ gave the country.
4
posted on
10/30/2003 5:42:14 AM PST
by
mtbopfuyn
To: mtbopfuyn
new ideas and alternative strategies
5
posted on
10/30/2003 5:46:59 AM PST
by
Samurai_Jack
(Pacifism by its nature invites escalating acts of war on anyone who practices it.)
To: OESY
"Our mission is to put before the American people new ideas and alternative strategies," he said in an interview."
I keep hearing Democrats say this, but hear no ideas. They have NONE!
6
posted on
10/30/2003 5:47:04 AM PST
by
what's up
To: OESY
It's all about recapturing power. As the article states numerous times.
Prairie
7
posted on
10/30/2003 5:52:03 AM PST
by
prairiebreeze
(Halloween night, Hildebeest will be aboard her broom scaring children & small animals.)
To: OESY
The truth is Americans dying fighting the war on terror puts a smile on democrat faces and a sping in their step.
To: jmaroneps37
habits are stronger than character and the habit on security of liberals like holbrooke is to talk till they are blue and leave the heavy lifting to republicans.
9
posted on
10/30/2003 5:53:03 AM PST
by
q_an_a
To: OESY
"The bad news is, we're headed in the wrong direction" said Sandy Berger, President Clinton's last national security adviser. "The worse news is we can't afford it."GDP grew at 7.2% for Q3, and jobless claims fell for the third month in a row. I guess we know what direction the democRATs want to go.
To: OESY
The corollary is that Good News, like the 3q03 prelim GDP, which surged this morning to 7.2% as personal consumption jumped 6.6%, business investment rose 11.1%, and net exports added to the tremendous gain, is Bad News for Democrats. Nevertheless, Mark Haines, the amiable liberal propagandist on CNBC is spinning like a top, maintaining that the GDP numbers are bad for job growth. Amazing.
11
posted on
10/30/2003 5:57:19 AM PST
by
OESY
To: OESY
Because they just dont get it. That's OK, as long as they keep their delusions, we are better for it.
12
posted on
10/30/2003 5:58:29 AM PST
by
capydick
(Where did all these Useful Idiots come from?)
To: Senator Kunte Klinte
Let's remember the words of Ellen Ratner, Democrat strategist, who expressed publicly earlier this year that she hopes "Bush messes up in Iraq". She meant she hopes U.S. troops take maximum casualties -- by delaying the war's start until the summer hot season, by taking bio-chem deaths, by getting mired down in block-to-block fighting, etc. And, if that didn't happen, she, Carville, Shrum and the Democrat multiple hopefuls could count on the liberal networks to make it seem it's just like Vietnam with up to 400 deaths a day. Democrats are absolutely morally bankrupt as well as intellectually dishonest, IMHO.
13
posted on
10/30/2003 6:07:31 AM PST
by
OESY
To: OESY
The NY Times understands exactly what is going on, and they are part of the process. Yet even the Times finds it a bit difficult to portray this selfish, treasonous politicking in a pleasant light.
"So why, then, was there a smile on Mr. Berger's jowly face?"
Reading this article is like watching the Wellstone Memorial Service. I'm not sure whether even many NY Times readers will want to join the party.
14
posted on
10/30/2003 6:11:10 AM PST
by
Cicero
(Marcus Tullius)
To: OESY
GDP is up. Way up. Lots of unhappy dems today...
15
posted on
10/30/2003 6:13:28 AM PST
by
GOPJ
To: what's up
"Our mission is to put before the American people new ideas and alternative strategies," he said in an interview." You responded: I keep hearing Democrats say this, but hear no ideas. They have NONE!
I agree: it's just like Hillary running for Senate claiming she was for women and children without providing any details of her programs. When you peel the onion, you find she means she's for a child's right to sue the mother or father. It's enough to make you cry, especially since my fellow New Yorkers were duped into dropping her on the Senate and decent Americans.
16
posted on
10/30/2003 6:16:06 AM PST
by
OESY
To: jmaroneps37
Dont these Socialist Americans just
LOOK like (pissed off)Socialists? They look like they belong in the Third Reich.





17
posted on
10/30/2003 6:24:57 AM PST
by
capydick
(Where did all these Useful Idiots come from?)
To: OESY
Iraq is doing exceedingly well, the economy is flying high, and in a wartime economy coming out of recession, the borrowing wasn't nearly what it could have been.
Dem's are in big trouble.
18
posted on
10/30/2003 6:25:21 AM PST
by
xzins
(Proud to be Army!)
To: OESY
"Our mission is to put before the American people new ideas and alternative strategies"
This is the core problem with liberal thought-they don't understand that what placed America literally on top of the world isn't new ideas but OLD ones, like freedom, private property and individual initiative. It's the "progressive" ideas like collectivism and facism, which are just cleaned up euphemisms for slavery and tyranny, that have screwed things up. They continue to refuse to acknowledge the lessons of history.
19
posted on
10/30/2003 6:26:57 AM PST
by
Spok
To: OESY
I would agree, Iraq without 9/11, could be presented as a failure. But, 9/11 did occur as much as the left wish it away, and the American people know that if we cut and run, the fighting and dying will occur here in America, on our soil.
Given a choice, where would you rather fight those that wish us dead. Here, in this country, or over there in their country. Most Americans would prefer to fight over there.
The big media has lost its monopoly on shaping opinions. They now have competition (and they hate it).
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