Charles Krauthammer and I are on the same page. Brilliant man, that Krauthammer. We agree that winning Iraq War should be the central plank in John McCain's presidential campaign. For my money, the rest of the Republicans up for election should, too.
The disconnect between what Democrats are saying about Iraq and what is actually happening there has reached grotesque proportions. Democrats won an exhilarating electoral victory in 2006 pledging withdrawal at a time when conditions in Iraq were dire and we were indeed losing the war. Two years later, when everything is changed, they continue to reflexively repeat their "narrative of defeat and retreat" (as Joe Lieberman so memorably called it) as if nothing has changed.
It is a position so utterly untenable that John McCain must seize the opportunity and, contrary to conventional wisdom, make the Iraq War the central winning plank of his campaign. Yes, Americans are war-weary. Yes, most think we should not have engaged in the first place. Yes, Obama will keep pulling out his 2002 speech opposing the war.
But McCain's case is simple. Is not Obama's central mantra that this election is about the future not the past? It is about 2009, not 2002. Obama promises that upon his inauguration, he will order the Joint Chiefs to bring him a plan for withdrawal from Iraq within 16 months. McCain says that upon his inauguration, he'll ask the Joint Chiefs for a plan for continued and ultimate success.
The choice could not be more clearly drawn. The Democrats' one objective in Iraq is withdrawal. McCain's one objective is victory.
New Hampshire Republicans were given the same advice in the summer of 2006 when Karl Rove speaking in Manchester told Republicans not to run away from Iraq.
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - White House adviser Karl Rove said Monday that Republicans facing midterm elections should campaign on the economy's strength and discuss the war in Iraq with no qualms.
''We have no excuses to make for it,'' Rove said during a fundraising dinner for New Hampshire Republicans. War supporters need not apologize for removing the threat of Saddam Hussein, and with so much work left to do, now is not the time to talk about leaving Iraq, he said.
Rove said Democrats pushing for the withdrawal of American troops should be the ones facing tough questions for wanting to ''cut and run.'' He targeted Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha, both Democrats and vocal supporters of getting out of Iraq.
''They are profoundly wrong,'' he said.
The Democrats were profoundly wrong then. They are profoundly wrong now. McCain is, unfortunately, the only Republican on the horizon with the insight and the courage to point it out.
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