Democrats not interested in victory

Mathew Continetti:

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Visitors to the campaign websites of the 30 Democratic House freshmen will find that the incidence of Murtha's name is second only to that of George W. Bush--and Murtha is mentioned in a much more positive way. Of those Democratic House freshmen, only two use the word "victory" to describe their goal in Iraq. Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi knows where her caucus is headed. Shortly after the November election, she told the Fox News Channel's Brit Hume that Iraq is "not a war to be won but a problem to be solved." To Pelosi, the solution to the problem of Iraq--American withdrawal--is self-evident.

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Earlier this year, Gary C. Jacobson of the University of California at San Diego published A Divider, Not a Uniter. The book deserved more attention than it received. George W. Bush, Jacobson argues persuasively, has become the "most divisive and polarizing president in the more than 50 years that public opinion polls have regularly measured citizens' assessments of presidents." And this is clearest when you look at the signature policy of Bush's administration: ending Saddam Hussein's regime and seeking to create a stable, democratically elected government in Iraq.

Jacobson found that, from the beginning of the debate over what to do about Saddam Hussein, the two parties held different views. As the United States moved closer to invading Iraq, the percentage of Republicans who said the "United States needs to act now, even without support of its allies," went from 34 percent in the late summer and fall of 2002 to 58 percent in February 2003. Yet over the same time period the percentage of Democrats who held this view basically stayed the same--20 percent to 22 percent. For Democrats, the importance of acting multilaterally was paramount. "Even when they believed that regime change in Iraq was imperative," Jacobson concludes, "most Democrats and independents remained reluctant to resort to force and opposed to unilateral action on the part of the United States."

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This is a long piece that separates Democrats as the peace party and Republicans as the power party. Wars are emotional political issues and it is not that surprising that it is difficult to sustain consensus. I think the divider label is always skewed. Democrats accused Lyndon Johnson of dividing the country because they opposed the war. Why aren't those who oppose the use of force ever found to be dividing the country? Are those who think the use of force is necessary the only ones who divide the country? Should we just be united in defeat? That is apparently the Democrat definition of unity. They just want to wrap a little diplomacy around the package.