> And in our discussions should we assume that we (leftists) can have a
> near-future impact on the decision makers in Washington? I think not. I
> would be interested in having someone explain to me how we might have
> such an impact. IN THE NEAR FUTURE. I think I know how we might have an
> impact over a period of half a decade or so, but I really don't have the
> slightest idea how anything we think or say or do could make a
> difference in the next year.
Oh, really? It's my impression that rather serious pressures are already building on the administration to make some drastic changes in its Iraq policy before the 2004 campaign gets started. It wasn't too long ago that everyone was quaking in their shoes about how fearsome the impact of the commercials featuring footage of the Shrub's landing on the aircraft carrier would be, and already it looks as though his campaign might not dare even to make such a commercial. I think helping to raise the level of denunciation of the Iraq debacle -- combined, of course, with the domestic economic debacle -- might well affect the political situation in the immediate future.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org ________________________________ How good bad music and bad reasons sound when we march against an enemy. -- Nietzsche