> Hey Nathan -- what's your take on Gore's speech?
> DP
>From a mainstream anti-Iraq war perspective, it was actually a brilliant
speech to shore up opposition, although it's points are not all ones the
left opposition will adopt. But he pared the Iraq war against other goals
that many voters would prefer. Primarily, he noted that the Iraq war would
detract from fighting Al Quaeda style terrorism -- and he did it by linking
Bush's supposed distraction from the war on terrorism to his failure on
economics:
"By shifting from his early focus after September 11th on war against terrorism to war against Iraq, the President has manifestly disposed of the sympathy, good will and solidarity compiled by America and transformed it into a sense of deep misgiving and even hostility. In just one year, the President has somehow squandered the international outpouring of sympathy, goodwill and solidarity that followed the attacks of September 11th and converted it into anger and apprehension aimed much more at the United States than at the terrorist network - - much as we manage to squander in one year's time the largest budget surpluses in history and convert them into massive fiscal deficits. He has compounded this by asserting a new doctrine - - of preemption. "
I actually agree with the first two sentences, that Bush blew US sympathy, which some might be considered a saving grace.
Gore also hit the political goals of Bush's Iraq policy, contrasting it with the last Gulf War:
"Fifth, President George H. W. Bush purposely waited until after the mid-term elections of 1990 to push for a vote at the beginning of the new Congress in January of 1991. President George W. Bush, by contrast, is pushing for a vote in this Congress immediately before the election. Rather than making efforts to dispel concern at home an abroad about the role of politics in the timing of his policy, the President is publicly taunting Democrats with the political consequences of a "no" vote - - even as the Republican National Committee runs pre-packaged advertising based on the same theme - - in keeping with the political strategy clearly described in a White House aide's misplaced computer disk, which advised Republican operatives that their principal game plan for success in the election a few weeks away was to "focus on the war.""
Lastly, as far as himself, Gore is moving to position himself on the left side of the field for 2004, an interesting turn where he is courting labor against the DLC and making a number of other moves to reinforce his populist approach, much to the dismay of his former DLC allies.
-- Nathan Newman