The Pres will have to make yet another corrective speech. The Ds don't seem to get it.
they don't want to get it...
To understand the libs' POV, one has to start at a simple basic assumption: the US is somehow at fault, whether it is our heritage of Western Civ, Christianity, domination of the New World (ie 'native peoples'), imperialism, capitalism, exploitation of women/minorities, ME foreign policy, etc, etc.
Once you believe that, then it's the US that needs to change, not our attackers. After all, they are merely acting out in reaction to what we and our ancestors have done for millenia. That's why we need to address 'root causes'. This philosophy is no different than their approach to domestic crime, which is why they coincidentaly associate terrorism with crime.
However, while libs agree we are to blame, egregious acts must be addressed, even though they are a distraction from the root causes approach. That's why they will sometimes support a temporary "get tough on crime" campaign and why they sort of went along with the Afghanistan war.
Once you see their POV, then it's easy to see why they think Iraq is a distraction. In their minds, Afghan had to be done for public opinion, but then we should have resorted to appeasing/rationalizing with our enemies via public policy initiatives.
Using this type of framework for WWII, one can easily see how Nazi Germany/Imp Japan had legitimate gripes about the West/US and why we should have accomodated them, rather than instill their wrath which led to Poland/Pearl Harbor.
It's taken me quite awhile to finally figure out how libs do it. It's also becoming quite alarming that almost 50% of the US seem to agree with this POV. Our real fight isn't against Islamofascists - they're primitive camel jocks that aren't really that much of a threat.
No, our real threat is the left that has somehow completely lost out on the benefits of competitive capitalism and the associated gov't forms that support this mode of commerce. They're truly the only ones that really threaten our freedoms in the long run.