You'd think tonight's address by the President about the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom would be a reason to celebrate. After all, it is the result those of us who opposed this action since 2003 have been looking for. Even with 50,000 "advisers", plus thousands of contractors, left in Iraq, it should be a victory for us.
However, I can't take solace in this milestone. At best it is just a partial correction of one of our nation's biggest foreign policy blunder, another step on the long road to atonement. At worst its just a way for us to escape the situation before it collapses like Saigon in 1975. This small piece of good news is dwarfed by the fears of another recession, an absolutely dreadful employment picture, and the toxic sludge of an overheated political environment. And oh yeah, we're still stuck in a dire situation in Afghanistan, the "good" war that we had supposedly won when we started the "adventure" in Iraq.
When Obama was elected in November 2008, I thought we had won a great victory. When Keith Olbermann announced Obama was projected to go above 270, the pop-culture romantic in me viewed the moment like it was the scene in Return of the King where Gandalf reacts to The One Ring being destroyed. It truly felt like the battle had been won.
Instead, it was a deceptive moment. The battle hadn't been won, but rather had just begun. Like it or not, the other side wasn't going to accept the inevitability of a new era of responsible governance tilted to the left. Nor were they going to reassess their party and return to the roots of Lincoln and Roosevelt. Instead, the GOP noise machine led by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh amped up the crazy, and the inmates took over the asylum. Relatively sensible Republicans, such as Charlie Crist, were chased out of the party in favor of radicals such as Marco Rubio and Sharon Angle. Realizing they were fighting for survival of their cult of Reaganomics, they dug in and decided to gum up the Senate with petty politics.
The President and the Democrats in Congress have done a lot. They've passed bills, imperfect though they may be, that are trying to fix our nation's health care and financial messes. Roads and infrastructure across the country have benefited from a necessary, if too small, stimulus package. Things have been accomplished, despite the cries on DailyKos and firedoglake to the contrary.
Despite these victories, the Democrats are poised to get their asses kicked come November. Some of the most pessimistic predictions state that both the House and Senate will fall back into the hands of the Republicans. Personally, I think the Democrats will maintain their majorities, albeit with much smaller margins. Of course, some of those new Republicans may be folks like Sharon Angle.
Personally, I think this all goes back to the fact that Democrats in Congress seem almost apologetic that they are Democrats. They should be trumpeting the virtues of Health Care and Financial Regulation, instead of sheepishly admitting they voted for these. If they voted for these policies, they should own them. Its time to go on the offensive, and not just pointing out that your party is less dangerous than the other one. I know it seems counter-intuitive to champion that which is unpopular, but it is partially unpopular because the message was dictated by the opposition. The only way to cut through that cloud is to attack it.
I'm aware I haven't done as much as I should have. Sitting here writing blog posts does little to advance the cause. I've donated a few bucks here and there to some candidates and groups like Emily's List, but have yet to volunteer to help build on that 2008 victory. I intend to do something about that, and will let you know what that is.
We are stuck in a drop-down, drag-out battle for the soul of this country. If we don't want the Michele Bachmanns and Sarah Palins and Marco Rubios running this country, we better get to work. Even if November results in a defeat for us, we must continue the fight. So to answer the question posed by the title of the article, we will walk through the fire, ever forward, tough though it may be.
