THE DEMOCRATS’ 2006 election strategy regarding the war in Iraq has begun to emerge. According to the Washington Post, key Democratic operatives and legislators “are slowly coalescing around a political plan [that] would involve setting a broad time frame for drawing down U.S. troops and blaming Bush for misleading the country into a war without a victory plan.” Their aim is to “provide the party enough maneuvering room to allow Democrats to adjust their position as conditions in Iraq change.” This strategy, the Post explains, is the product of fear that advocating a prompt withdrawal from Iraq would jeopardize the party’s chances of succeeding in 2006. Thus, for the third straight election, mainstream Democrats intend to craft their position on matters of war and peace based on political calculation, not their view of the national interest.

As the slow motion cut-and-run strategy gains political steam, liberal think-tanks and Clinton-era security analysts are providing their blessing. For example, in late November former White House national security adviser Richard Clarke called for the United States to announce that the final withdrawal of American troops from Iraq will occur by the end of 2007. Lawrence Korb of the Center for American Progress, the think tank created by Democratic operative John Podesta, is also advocating a phased withdrawal pursuant to a similar timetable. Yet just this past June, before the Democratic strategy had begun to “coalesce,” Korb stated that such a timetable would be “a mistake.”