A Boston Tea Party …(Themselves to Blame)

In sports there is a saying that if you lose you more than likely deserved to lose. As we now are under sixty days before the November elections, if Republicans lose control of the House and/or Senate they probably deserve too. The Republican strategy for the upcoming campaign season seems to be to stress how important Iraq is on the war on terror. While I certainly agree with this argument it is because of the poor way Republicans have made this argument over the last couple years they now are on verge of defeat.

The predicament the Republicans are in can be placed squarely at the feet of the President. I know it is sacrilegious to place any blame on our trusty leader but their ain’t no kool-aid drunk by this guy. Polls show most Americans do not feel the war in Iraq is central to the war on terror. They don’t believe so because this President and his administration have failed miserably at providing such a link in a consistent, point-blank manner. We are in a politically correct world and the war has been operated in the same politically correct way. When President Bush said, “You are either with us or against us,” I figured maybe he would not fall into this trap but he has. In the last two weeks he has began to define the war as us against Islamafascism, which is being criticized as being insensitive. It is this writer’s thoughts that such a definition is only about FOUR to FIVE years to late.

It should be obvious why most Americans don’t feel a connection to this war. They have not been asked too. Other than our soldiers, Americans have not been asked to make any difficult sacrifices unless you count delays at the airport. If you are told to go about your daily lives as if nothing has changed how then can you take any ownership in a war that defines our future? We have been told our lives need not change. We are told to travel and spend like normal. However, war is not normal. War is hard. If you don’t sense any hardship then you will never identify with the adversity that needs to be overcome for victory.

Republicans put themselves in this situation. The easy way out is to blame the Democrats for continually being negative about the war on terror. Americans remain detached from this war because Republicans refused to be blunt and direct regardless of Democratic carping. They are behind in the last quarter. If they lose they only have themselves to blame. Their failure to engage Americans in this war may leave us with a Democratic House and/or Senate. Some defeats are definitely more costly than others.