PITY THE POOR Democratic presidential candidates. They’re really in a bind: They have no choice but to join in the international rejoicing over the capture of the Butcher of Baghdad, but at the same time they can’t simply offer blanket approval for President Bush’s Iraq policy. With the economy picking up steam and Bush stealing their best issue with his Medicare bill, they can’t afford to give up this all-important area in which to criticize the incumbent. But what can they say when the situation in Iraq appears to be looking up?
Pretty much all of them have been reduced to the same rhetorical trope. Howard Dean: “We must do everything possible to bring the U.N., NATO and other members of the international community back into this effort.” John Edwards: “I hope President Bush will use this opportunity to chart a course in Iraq that will bring in our allies in a meaningful way to achieve a democratic and peaceful Iraq.” John Kerry: “We need to share the burden, bring in other countries and make it clear to the world that Iraq belongs to the Iraqi people.” Even Joe Lieberman, the most stalwart defender of the war effort, joined in: “We’ve got to seize this moment, bring in the international community to help us rebuild Iraq, ask NATO to join us in the peacekeeping, complete our victory over the insurgents and terrorists that are fighting us and let the Iraqis govern themselves.”
