The Test of Democracy

Joe Biden's claim that a successful conclusion of the Iraq War was one of the Obama administration's "greatest achievements", is a cause for concern - not because George Bush did the heavy lifting over the vociferous objections of Obama and Biden, but because it is not too late to screw it up.

The real test of democracy is not whether the public gets to vote on its rulers, it is whether those rulers are eventually willing to turn over power when those voters make a different choice. So, in Iraq we have President Maliki's party disqualifying opposition candidates and calling for a recount of a generally fair election, anti-American rabble rouser al-Sadr trying to find an opening for his pro-Iran faction, and the Sunni insurgents attempting a revived bombing campaign. Lets hope that Obama is still interested, and that there are some "facts of life" back room discussions going on - not "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory".

 In the US, we've had at least a couple of important lessons about power transfer.

- Many think that George Washington's greatest legacy is his retirement in in 1797, warning against the formation of political parties, foreign alliances, and public debt.  Many supporters wanted continued strong leadership in challenging times; others feared what John Adams might bring. Some 213 years later we can still thank him for the precedent.

-  When looking for the roots of the deep divisions in our current politics, one need go no further than Al Gore's 35-day challenge to the 2000 presidential election when, unlike Nixon in 1960, he put his substantial ego ahead of the country's need for a credible election. To this date, many of my Democratic friends will not acknowledge that Bush actually won - despite an objective recount of all of the Florida votes months later. In their minds, he was never their legitimate president.

It is both arrogant and naive to think that we can manage the process and result of elections in other countries - Iraq; Iran; Afghanistan; Pakistan.  When Obama jets off to Kabul to upbraid President Karzai, he should not be surprised to receive a rebuke that Afghans will manage Afghan elections (even corrupt ones) and if that is not OK, Karzai may even join the Taliban.  But, unlike Iraq, this is Obama's war and the credit or blame really does belong there.

The lessons for foreign policy - we need to understand our real core national interests and know who our friends are; we must understand our limits (including requirements for selecting leaders); and we need to have both friends and enemies understand the consequences of crossing us. Unfortunately the Administration's treatment of the UK, Israel, Germany and other traditional democratic allies makes these things very fuzzy in 2010.

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This week's video reflects a revision of my view on who Joe Biden has been trying to emulate. It is not comedian Steve Martin, but the last vice president from the Del-Mar-Va region - Spiro Agnew. (The juxtaposition with the Tea Partiers and past protesters is also interesting.)

bill bowen - 4/9/10

Comments

[william mccormcik]

Politicians must believe we are all idiots. And maybe we are for allowing them to continuously mislead us. Obama, for example, is now claiming through surrogates like Biden:

1. That his greatest achievement is the stabalization and withdrawal from Iraq. If it is then he hasn't done much. Iraq is clearly something he didn't want done and the surge strategy initiated by GWB led to the opportunity to withdraw.

2. That his budget deficit is going to be less than Bush's final year. The $1.6 Trillion deficit from Bush included all of the $750 Billion TARP monies I believe. $500B was never used. Had the Obama administration put that money back the true deficit would have been $1.1 Trillion. Now, they are putting it back along with the paid back TARP money and claiming they are lowering the deficit. Now predicted to be $1.4 Trillion. This dubious double whammy accounting is an attempt to counter the evidence of the huge increase in spending that they have leveled on the American people.

3. The hiring spree of the federal government especially the temporary workers for the census is masking the true unemployment numbers. Unemployment is still rising as true jobs created in the economic sector are still not keeping up with population growth.

Here are things that Obama can take ownership for:

1. The healthcare Bill. Whether it works or fails will be Obama's legacy. And, the cost to implement it are his as well even though he has deferred most of it to beyond 2014. His objective of expanded coverage was achieved. Our objective of cost reduction or stabalization were probably not according to all the experts in the halthcare consulting field.

2. A nuclear Iran. After giving Iran a firm line in the sand last December here we are in April trying once again to rally the world for some silly sanctions to pretend we can stop their ambitious development of weapons. And pushing Isreal to stop building apartments. With friends like Obama and Biden Isreal can rest easy when looking toward Iran and Hammas funded by Iran.

3. The economic environment. While the economy is trying to rally the tax and spend and regulate policies of the administration continue to dampen the confidence of the consumer and of business managers slowing the progress we occassionally see. On the horizon we face the cost of debt service, the cost of tax increases from expiration of Bush tax cuts, the possibility of an energy bill, the increase in medical premiums to come after September's requirement to eliminate preexisting conditions and what is sure to be proposed a national sales (value added) tax on all citizens and all businesses.

4. The deficit. The deficit and all it means in terms of future debt service is his.

5. The Global Warming scandal. His failure to acknowledge or even address the climate change deception is as alarming as his failure to address ACORN. While he may still be a strong believer in climate change he has a responsibility to acknowledge the uncertainty that this deception adds to the debate. Before the USA decides to change our economic orientation based on this threat to all of mankind it should be clear to all that climate change is actually occurring and is occuring for the reasons being postulated.

All this deception or smoke and mirrors is simply political gaming for the purposes of moderating the coming effects of policies seen by a majority as ill advised to be levied on the perpetrators in the November elections. Even the token drill for oil policies and get tough on Iran stance are likely political games. Anyone remember the "focus on jobs" we were promised after the Afghanistan decision was made and after the Healthcare Bill was passed? The "I" man still wanders around looking for something new to talk about and change the subject from the biggest challenges of the voters: jobs, government spending and security from terrorists.

[lisainstlouis]

Talk about corrupted elections. Think ACORN. How many unregistered, illegal votes did they create throughout the country? Not just in the Presidential race but in State and Local elections too. No one will ever know. We should be more vigilant in our own election process rather than worrying about how other countries run theirs. Wonderful blog. Very thought-provoking.