Josh Marshall calls it the "Republicans' Bitch-Slap Theory of Politics": The Republicans launch an attack on a Democratic candidate with the expectation (unfortunately correct in far too many instances) that the Democrat will not sufficiently defend him- or herself, making the Democrat look feckless both on the particular issue in question but also in general. (If a candidate cannot stand up for him- or herself, how will he or she stand up for America, the reasoning goes.)
The Republicans turned to this trick again today, after Barack Obama made the following statement about the American effort in Afghanistan last night: "We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there." In response, the Republican National Committee tried to get Obama to back down -- to disavow his comments and even apologize for having made them -- with party chairman Mike Duncan saying, "It is hard to imagine that anyone who aspires to be commander-in-chief would say such a thing about our brave men and women in uniform... Obama owes our armed forces an apology -- today."
There was a time when some Democrats would have given into the RNC's demand, and as a result end up looking weak both on the issue (Afghanistan) and in general. But not so this time with Obama. Instead of cowering at the hands of the Republicans, the Obama campaign held its ground and was rewarded with a fact check by the Associated Press that showed that Obama was completely correct with his assessment of the situation in Afghanistan. Indeed, The Politico's Richard Allen Greene, filling in for Ben Smith covering the Democratic White House aspirants for the coming couple of weeks, deems this a "win" for Obama.
I use this merely as one example of Democratic candidates not backing down when hit, an extremely important development as the party tries to regain control over the White House. Certainly it is not the only example. Hillary Clinton, for example, has increasingly been seen waging a rhetorical battle against the Bush White House. John Edwards has strenuously fought off charges that he is hypocritical on issues of poverty, working harder, in fact, to forward the progressive cause in response.
This is all not to say that the Democrats -- or anyone, for that matter -- should not back down when they are wrong. Clearly, we have seen the deleterious effects brought on by an overly stubborn leader unwilling to change course even when his policies have proven to be failures. At the same time, it's important that Democrats don't back down when they are right. And it seems that there is at least some evidence that they are learning this key lesson.
|
|
|
Permalink :: 49 Comments :: Post a Comment
|
In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.
If not, you can make an account right here. It's quick and free.
