WEEKLY COLUMN:
JDM vs the WORLD

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FINE PRINT

If only Tom Daschle had pigtails and a face full of freckles, I would’ve sworn he was an 8-year old girl the way he was pouting last week.

There he was last Wednesday, the man with more rank than anyone else in the Democratic Party, completely losing his cool on the Senate floor for all the world to look and/or laugh at. On and on he went, accusing the Republicans of playing politics with the War on Terror, even demanding that President Bush apologize to Democratic Senators.

Now, what I want to know is: Does Daschle take the American people for a bunch of buffoons or what? I mean, yeah, the Republicans are using Iraq as a platform for November’s elections, but does Daschle really, truly believe that the Democrats aren’t playing the opposite side of the exact same card? Because they are.

And the way I’ve got it figured, when the American people call his bluff, it’s going to pay out tremendously for Republicans.

But perhaps this is the sort of drastically desperate measure we can come to expect from the Democrats as we inch closer and closer to Election Day.

Out in San Francisco, for example, Al Gore was making a big stink last week as well. He wondered aloud why an attack on Iraq was scheduled so close to election time. He implied that the issue was just a convenient ploy for the Bush administration to help Republicans regain control of the Senate (which makes you wonder why the Democrats would oppose what they obviously realize is a winning cause). He even went on to say that he felt “betrayed”—the poor baby—by George H.W. Bush for not taking out Saddam Hussein when we had the chance in 1991, something he’s applauded in the past.

And meanwhile?

Meanwhile, the longer guys like Daschle and Gore drag this thing out, the longer Hussein has to collect weapons of mass destruction. Oh, and the longer he has to hide said weapons—can’t forget about that one.

The sad thing about this is that these guys are only fooling themselves. Both men have designs on the White House for 2004, and everyone knows it. Both seem to think they can stake an early claim to their party’s presidential nod by ushering in Democratic success this November. How’s that for convenient political maneuvering?

Ordinarily, I’d say Daschle and Gore can feel free to shoot each other in the foot—they’d probably just blame it on Republican gun laws, anyway—but the problem is, the longer they play the game, the greater the chance we all have of losing. With Hussein trying to stockpile weapons that can wipe out whole planets in a heartbeat, a stalled attack on Iraq could conceivably endanger the lives of millions.

Thankfully, Daschle and Gore’s opinions don’t quite represent the entire Democratic Party. In fact, there are plenty of hawkish Democrats right now, not the least of which is former vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman.

But that’s the problem the Democrats are having. They can complain all they want about the Republicans using Iraq as a platform, but hey, at least the Republicans have a relevant platform (and the right platform, too).

Democrats have spent such a vast majority of the last year trying their damnedest to divert attention from war issues that, with both an attack on Iraq as well as midterm elections rising fast upon the horizon, they’re just now scrambling for some semblance of a stance. Not surprisingly, they’re slipping and sliding all the way.

But they’ve no one to blame but themselves.

These guys could’ve—indeed, should’ve—had a stance on Iraq back in January. That’s when President Bush first revved things up by including Iraq in the Axis of Evil during his State of the Union address. America’s been swaggering towards an attack on Hussein ever since. If the Democrats missed their window of opportunity to take a stand either which way, tough.

So, it’s come down to the Democrats trying to run out the clock on their Senate majority. Basically, they’re trying to take their ball and go home.

It’s sad to see grown men act this way, isn’t it?

Besides, all this talk of the Republicans playing politics is inconsequential. The American people are wise enough to know that all politicians on both sides of the bipartisan aisle play politics. That’s why we call them politicians. And when your best move is to accuse your opponent of playing politics, you only expose yourself for the politically-motivated scoundrel that you are.

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