The theme of the Boston convention is "strength," to counter the image of weakness so beloved by those who relish the role of victim. Each night the Democrats will emphasize how John Kerry and John Edwards have "the strength of character and toughness" to create a "strong military," "a strong economy," to "strengthen America's position in the world." Speakers will talk about "John Kerry's lifetime of strength and service."
There are risks in this approach, because it invites an examination of the record. As everyone who reads newspapers now knows, both Johns voted to go to war in Iraq, but then voted against spending the money to support the troops. The Johns were at the time trailing Howard Dean, the undiluted anti-war candidate. Their exercise in expediency was rendered even more dramatic when 14 Democratic senators who had voted against the war nevertheless voted to spend the money to support the troops. Kerry's rhetoric hardly reflects strength when he accuses President Bush of failing "to do everything in [his] power to avoid the loss of your son or daughter."
The war against terror cries out for strong, robust bipartisanship and shouldn't be held hostage to the pressures of a presidential campaign. This requires more than mere words about strength. To that end, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans have revived the "Committee on the Present Danger," a bipartisan coalition that was crucial to victory in the Cold War. The committee was led by Democratic Senator Henry Jackson of Washington, and it was the party's disdain for Scoop Jackson's warning that led many Democrats to become Republicans. The Democratic point man today is Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, who, allied with Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona, pleads for support for the war in Iraq.
"In this war, our enemies do not distinguish between Democrats and Republicans," they wrote the other day in the Washington Post. "All Americans are the target of the hate, because all Americans share the values they detest."
The gentlemen from Connecticut and Arizona are cautioning the Democrats assembling in Boston that this is no time to listen to girlie men.