Having spent a good bit of ink and space critiquing the president's war policy, I decided to do what many voters do at this point in the election cycle: pay close attention to what politicians say. Take House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, for instance. On "60 Minutes" recently, Pelosi offered her take on the so-called war on terror -- which does not, she explained, extend to Iraq.
"Do you not think that the war in Iraq, now, today, is the war on terror?" Lesley Stahl asked.
"No. The war on terror is the war in Afghanistan," Pelosi replied.
"But don't you think the terrorists have moved into Iraq now?" Stahl continued.
"They have," Pelosi agreed. "The jihadists (are) in Iraq. But that doesn't mean we stay there. They'll stay there as long as we're there."
We stay. The "jihadists" stay. We go. They go. (Never mind resident death squads.) There's a certain logic to Pelosi's strategy that is practically feasible -- so long as the tooth fairy isn't busy. But such fairy tales are no substitute for foreign policy.
Not that Pelosi fancies herself a grand strategist. "Ask Nancy Pelosi to describe herself," says Stahl, "and the first thing out of her mouth is that ..."
Suspense: Is it that she is the increasingly familiar face of the Democratic Party? Potentially the first woman Speaker of the House?
Nope. That first thing out of Pelosi's mouth is that "she's a mother of five and a grandmother of five." This is quite often the first thing out of her mouth -- so often, perhaps, that its very repetitiveness may explain a recent news item. Earlier this month, while demanding a House Ethics Committee investigation in the ex-Rep. Mark Foley scandal, "Pelosi was booed by Republicans when she mentioned that she is a mother of five and a grandmother," reported the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Now I can relate. After all, it's countdown time to Election Day, Iraq is chaotic, our own country has no control of its borders, and the leading elected Democrat in the land wants voters to know she's ... a mommy and a granny?
Back to Stahl's interview: "As she's poised to go down in history books if the Democrats win the House -- suddenly (thankfully) a genuine "if" again -- "what Nancy Pelosi wants you to know is...."
Continued... |