Iraq Is Hurting The Economy

by: Chris Bowers

Mon Apr 07, 2008 at 17:42

THE WAR IN IRAQ AND THE ECONOMY
The war in Iraq ranks second behind the economy as the country's most pressing problem and most Americans think the cost of the war has contributed to the country's economic woes, including two-thirds who think it has contributed a lot.

HOW MUCH HAS THE IRAQ WAR CONTRIBUTED TO U.S. ECONOMIC PROBLEMS?
A lot 67%
Some 22
Not much/not at all 10

Americans who think going to war with Iraq was the right thing to do are less likely to think the war is responsible for the country's economic problems.

Arguing over whether or not Democrats should run on the economy or whether or not they should run on Iraq is a false choice. Instead, Democrats should run on a platform that Iraq is hurting the economy. While that is not the only reason the Iraq war needs to end, and while Iraq is not the only reason the economy is struggling, the simple principle that the war is bad for the economy not only connects the two issues, not only makes for a simple campaign slogan, and not only is something that nine in ten Americans believe, but, as I have argued in the past, it would be the clearest, transformative, progressive message Democrats have run on in decades. Implicit in the message is that war in general, and excessive military spending in general, is bad for the economy. Once people accept the message, they will be less willing to go to war, and less willing to spend freely on the military, in the future. And thus, we start to strike a blow against the untouchable symptoms.

The message is our there. The public is ready to accept it. We just need a critical mass of Democrats willing to put it front and center in their campaigns. And then, we will really have something big.