GARY HART MAKES SENSE: (Wow,

GARY HART MAKES SENSE: (Wow, I typed that, and my fingers didn’t catch on fire!) Good essay in the New York Times:

The Vietnam era divided the nation but not as severely as it divided the Democratic Party. The party of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy still seems incapable, more than 25 years after the war’s end, of collectively addressing America’s defense posture in coherent and creative ways. Instead, once again, Democrats are responding to a Republican president as individual entrepreneurs trying to protect themselves against the traditional conservative charge of being “soft on defense.” For proof of Democratic marginalization on these issues, one need look no further than the polls that consistently show Americans trust Republicans more than Democrats to manage foreign policy and conflict.

Though the commitment to national defense should be above partisan advantage, how that commitment is carried out will always divide the parties. If the president is successful in convincing the American people that Iraq is an immediate threat to our security, and the Democrats are simply in opposition, this issue could well decide the Congressional balance of power, propelling Republicans to victory in both the House and the Senate in the upcoming midterm elections.

Well worth reading the whole thing.