Friday, January 03, 2003

Josh Marshal makes an interesting point about Democratic culpability in Republican foreign policy failings:
Part of the issue here is that the Democrats' persistent lack of seriousness about national security policy -- which I discussed here in the New York Post -- has made conservatives frightfully lazy on the same subject. Sad to say, but true. They're in the habit of thinking that talking tough gets you credit for being tough. Only it doesn't. Certainly, it doesn't get you credit for being tough and smart in your management of national security matters. Talking tough simply doesn't give the Bush administration a free pass to smooth over or cover up its policy screw-ups in Northeast Asia. I can understand their wanting it to. But it doesn't.
This is similar to a point I have made in the past: the Democrats need to be a stronger party (in the sense of bringing workable proposals to the table and fighting to get them passed) if, for no other reason, to make the Republicans equally strong. America suffers when its political leadership is flabby and, despite their recent successes, the Republicans have become very flabby (witness who their leader is). Call it free market politics: the political system as a whole is stronger when both parties are strong.

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