It seems really funny to me that many Democrats, often led my Joe Lieberman and more recently epitomized by the Bush Dogs, have long looked to distance themselves for their own party on national security, even though Democrats actually have an advantage on the issue. Gallup has data showing this:
Now, I have a question for liberal hawks: during the time when Democrats gained on, and eventually overtook, Republicans on national security, did Democrats become more hawkish? As I remember it, during these five years Democrats have gradually and greatly increased their opposition to things like the Iraq war, FISA and the Patriot Act. Even though we are still losing votes on those issues, we are doing a lot better than we were a few years ago.
For years, we have heard the concern troll lines that Democrats won't win elections unless they can convince Americans they will protect them on matters of national security. These lines have variously been delivered as code and as blunt statements that Democrats need to turn to the right on national security matters in order to win elections. The truth is, however, that Democrats gained on Republicans on national security, and then started winning elections, when the party as a whole turned to the left on national security matters. Conservative Democrats who fail to realize this basically can't stop listening to their Devo records, watching Burt Reynolds movies, taping A-Team re-runs, and other macho 80's fads. The simple fact is that the country is no longer right-wing on national security, and Democrats were able to gain an electoral advantage by moving to the left on that issue. Now, to win a national election, it is necessary to run to the left on national security. Even Republicans are trying to claim they favor withdrawal, now.
Sometimes, I wish there was an age limit on serving in Congress or the White House. One of the major problems we face in the progressive movement is that government is one of the slowest institutions to change relative to the rest of society, and one of the reasons for that is because those in charge of it tend to be quite old. The House and the Senate are so old that only very recently was the median age even equal to the oldest Baby Boomers. This is not a group of people who will quickly recognize a shift in the national mood on pretty much anything. Their clothes have gone out of style, and they don't even realize it.
