• Flip-flops Flip-flops Iraq may be a political trap for the Democratic presidential candidates. Having watched Howard Dean zoom past them on an antiwar platform, Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and John Edwards, D-N.C., voted against the $87 billion appropriation bill
• Flip-flops
Flip-flops
Iraq may be a political trap for the Democratic presidential candidates.
Having watched Howard Dean zoom past them on an antiwar platform, Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and John Edwards, D-N.C., voted against the $87 billion appropriation bill for Iraq. The votes smell of political opportunism in light of the senators’ votes last fall in favor of the war resolution.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-St. Louis, who also voted for the war resolution, have been consistent in voting in favor of the $87 billion appropriation. As Gephardt put it, “I can’t find it within myself to not vote for the money (to) support the troops.”
Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards justify their votes with the criticism that the $87 billion appropriation gives President George W. Bush a “blank check” in Iraq. But the blank check that Congress gave the president was cut last fall when it authorized him to go to war.
Congress erred in granting the president unchecked power to wage a war before making every effort to resolve the matter through the United Nations. But having invaded Iraq and occupied it, the United States has a responsibility to try to restore order and create a democracy, as difficult as those tasks are. As unpalatable as it is to approve $87 billion for that purpose, we are morally obligated to sustain our troops and help rebuild the country.
Mr. Gephardt showed a dismaying lack of leadership last fall when he lined up Democratic support for the war resolution. But in supporting the $87 billion appropriation, he also demonstrated his consistency. Just as Mr. Kerry has seen Mr. Dean surpass him in New Hampshire polls, Mr. Gephardt has found that Mr. Dean has caught him in Iowa. But unlike Mr. Kerry, Mr. Gephardt stood his ground.
The flip-flops by Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards are shortsighted. They feed voter concern that Democrats are weak on defense.
And the White House won’t hesitate to exploit the Democrats’ weakness. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice demonstrated that last week with her revisionist history blaming the Clinton administration for failing to address terrorism.
The upcoming election campaign is the right place for a debate about the nation’s response to Sept. 11, 2001. Democrats need to show the voters that they have a better plan for getting our soldiers out of Iraq, a more focused plan for fighting terrorists around the world and a foreign policy that enlists the help of other countries, rather than earning their enmity.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
