The War as Political Issue

Over the weekend, we saw the venerable Washington Post grudgingly admit that yes, we are making steady and measurable progress in Iraq and the strategies we've implemented are indeed working. General Petraeus has executed plans that have quelled much of the violence, turned the average Iraqi against al-Qaeda and is working to bridge the gap between Sunni and Shia. The good news is evident and the MSM will have to portray it as such although with the same scepticism noted in the WaPo piece.

Let's suppose that the good in Iraq continues into next year, what will be the political ramifications? The majority of the Democrat field have beased their campaigns on opposition to the war and the President's handling of it. The only Dem to support the war effort even tepidly is Hillary and she's simply doing that as a hedge. On the GOP side, most have supported the war effort with the glaring exception of wannabe candidate Ron Paul (The Keeper of the Constitution!). They've supported the troops and Petraeus' actions even at the risk of harming themselves should they win the nomination. If events continue as they have in Iraq and the American public further senses the momentum and begins to believe that the war is in fact winnable, what effect would that have on the various campaigns?

On the donk side, John Edwards has made much of the fact that Hillary has never "apologized" for voting to use force against Iraq while he has. He's ran on a platform of anti-war and has given a big, fat kiss to the hard left in hopes of garnering support. Barack Obama has been anti-war from the beginning supposedly as has Americas own Nobel Laureate, Al Gore. Now that they've staked out positions that are not ambiguous in the least, should the tenor of the public change, they would be caught in a position that would leave them wide-open for criticism. A GOP ad campaign painting the Dems as lacking trust in our military would write itself and the public would largely believe it.

The GOP candidates have supported our war effort with Giuliani, McCain, Romney and Thompson all lining up with Petraeus but their criticism of the President has been rough at times. They will have some excellent talking points on the stump should they gain the nomination.

Lastly, President Bush way well be vindicated for his strategy of luring the Jihadi's in to Iraq so we could fight them in one place and keep them out of the U.S. Of course the anti-warriors will never admit that but it would do well for GOP pundits to point out that this strategy has worked quite well. Through the last several years, Bush has been beaten by the liberal canard that his planning was flawed and his concept of luring Islamo-fascist fighters into a battle on our terms was unrealistic. It may well play out that he was exactly right in thinking it was a winnable situation.