New York Times OP ED Pages
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Ever since President Bush took office I've had this feeling that the only
serious opposition party in America, at least in foreign policy, was made up
of three people, and none of them were Democrats. The only three people Mr.
Bush really worries about the only three people who could take big
constituencies with them if they openly parted company with the president on
an issue like Iraq are Colin Powell, Tony Blair and John McCain.
What happened to the Democrats? Well, I don't buy their whining that their
voices have been cynically drowned out by Mr. Bush's focus on Iraq. The
problem with the Democrats is not that they are being drowned out by Iraq.
The problem is that the Democrats have nothing compelling to say on all the
issues besides Iraq. Iraq is winning control of the agenda by Democratic
default, not by Republican design.
I spent the last month travelling the country on a book tour, during which I
said that what worried me most after 9/11 was what kind of world my girls
were going to grow up in. I ran into so many Americans who share that
concern. After a talk in Atlanta, one guy came up to me, just opened his
wallet and showed me the picture of his daughter. He didn't say a word.
The point is that I can assure the Democrats that while Mr. Bush may be
obsessed with Iraq, most Americans are worrying about their jobs, the stock
market, the environment and the fact that their kids may not grow up in as
open and peaceful a world as they did.
The biggest security concern of Americans today is not Iraq or Osama. It's
the fear that America itself could be weakened by short-term, greedy
decisions, taken by politicians squandering our hard-won surplus or
corporate executives squandering our pensions and undermining our markets.
And Americans are right to be concerned. Because without a strong America
holding the world together, and doing the right thing more often than not,
the world really would be a Hobbesian jungle.
Because I believe that is what is really gnawing at Americans, and because I
believe that Mr. Bush is not really addressing this broader concern but is
still running on the momentum of his strong military performance right after
9/11 there is a leadership opportunity for bold Democrats. But where are
they?
Where are the Democrats who are ready to argue forcefully that the future
tax cuts that Mr. Bush pushed through are utterly reckless and need to be
repealed because they will erode the resources the government needs to
remain a Great Power in this age of uncertainty? And they send a terrible
signal to our kids, corporate leaders and the world: that all that matters
is short-term, me-first gratification.
Where are the Democrats who would declare that the best way to enhance our
security, make us better global citizens, reduce our dependence on Middle
East oil and leave a better planet for our kids is a Manhattan Project to
develop a renewable energy source, along with greater conservation? Mr. Bush
has totally ignored the longing by young Americans to be drafted for such a
grand project to strengthen America. And so, too, have the Democrats.
Where are the Democrats who would declare that confronting Saddam is
legitimate, but it must not be done without real preparation of the U.S.
public? Decapitating Saddam's regime will take weeks. Building Iraq into a
more decent state, with a real civil society, will take years. But it is
this latter project that is the most important the one that really gets at
the underlying threat from the Middle East, which is its failed states. But
do we know how to do such nation re-building, and if we do, do Americans
want to pay for it? We need to go in prepared for this task (which is
unavoidable if we really intend to disarm Iraq) or stay out and rely instead
on more aggressive containment, because halfhearted nation-building always
ends badly and would surely weaken us. Why aren't the Democrats clarifying
this?
At the moment, the Bush team is leading the nation much more by fear than by
hope. The Democrats can only win, or only deserve to win, if they can offer
a bold alternative. That would be a program for strengthening America based
on hope not fear, substance not spin, a program that addresses the primary
concern of Americans now: the future for the kids whose pictures they carry
around in their wallets.
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