Solving Dean's Iraq Problem (Oh, Canada)
As events in Iraq continue to spin out of control, is Howard Dean developing an Iraq problem?
The latest Newsweek poll shows a sharp rise in the number of Americans who want the troops home now, especially among Democrats, women and young people.
Dean's position here is clear. He was against getting in. But now that we're in we can't bug out. Dean wants to internatoinalize the effort, but that grows harder as the task gets larger.
How do we keep anti-war Democrats from deserting the anti-war Democrat? Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich are both encouraging it.
Bushies, meanwhile, are waiting to see Dean go hat-in-hand to France, to beg terms of Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder. That fantasy will be spun regardless -- truth is no object in Republican politics.
But there is a piece of jiu jitsu I think Dean might use to turn the whole issue around.
Go to Canada. Speak about American-Canadian friendship in Toronto. Get an audience to talk trade and Iraq with the Canadian Prime Minister. The dialogue would be healthy. Canada's position on Iraq is also closer to France' than to our own government's. A trip up north would help point that out.
Sure, rank-and-file Republicans will point to Canada's drug laws, its embrace of gay marriage, and its health care system to discredit the whole idea. Let them. Canada can defend itself, and most Canadians will enjoy the attention. Dean will also get an opportunity to prove that, on the Canadian political spectrum, he is pretty conservative.
The way out of the Iraq problem may lie through Ottawa.
The latest Newsweek poll shows a sharp rise in the number of Americans who want the troops home now, especially among Democrats, women and young people.
Dean's position here is clear. He was against getting in. But now that we're in we can't bug out. Dean wants to internatoinalize the effort, but that grows harder as the task gets larger.
How do we keep anti-war Democrats from deserting the anti-war Democrat? Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich are both encouraging it.
Bushies, meanwhile, are waiting to see Dean go hat-in-hand to France, to beg terms of Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder. That fantasy will be spun regardless -- truth is no object in Republican politics.
But there is a piece of jiu jitsu I think Dean might use to turn the whole issue around.
Go to Canada. Speak about American-Canadian friendship in Toronto. Get an audience to talk trade and Iraq with the Canadian Prime Minister. The dialogue would be healthy. Canada's position on Iraq is also closer to France' than to our own government's. A trip up north would help point that out.
Sure, rank-and-file Republicans will point to Canada's drug laws, its embrace of gay marriage, and its health care system to discredit the whole idea. Let them. Canada can defend itself, and most Canadians will enjoy the attention. Dean will also get an opportunity to prove that, on the Canadian political spectrum, he is pretty conservative.
The way out of the Iraq problem may lie through Ottawa.
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