Those watching the current positioning by Democrats on the war in Iraq might notice a familiar pattern. Frequently Democrats overplay their hand by misreading cues from voters and not realizing until too late that they have gone too far. I think that may be happening again with their current opposition to the President on the subject of Iraq policy. It is one thing to jump on the bandwagon to pile on a President with low poll numbers. It is another thing, entirely, to self identify as defeatists who want to go on record saying that the U.S. military cannot (and should not) win in Iraq.
Another danger Democrats face with the current strategy, though, is that they have finally gone so far over the bounds of responsibility that they have roused some who may have become a bit discouraged and disengaged. I am seeing it everyday. I am hearing from readers and fellow bloggers who had gotten beaten down by the daily drumbeat of negativity and just got burned out trying to defend the President and his policies and disengaged themselves from the fight. Well, the Democrat response to the SOTU speech and the Senate resolution have awakened them.
The funk some may have experienced with disappointment over the election results, and the discouragement many on the right have felt as a result of low public support for the president and the mission in Iraq, is now being replaced by outrage. Democrats may have just overplayed their hand. I guess we will find out over the next year or so, but I am seeing something happening that supporters of the mission in Iraq could not accomplish by themselves. Democrats are motivating them to stop wallowing in despair and fight back.
Bruce Kesler has never wallowed in despair, but he is fighting back now more vigorously in response to some of the recent actions by Democrats and some spineless Republicans.
Update: Allah has video of Robert Gates saying the Senate resolution “emboldens the enemy.” Bill Faith has much more.
