[Mb-civic] A post-9/11 problem for Democrats - Joan Vennochi - Boston Globe

[William Swiggard]

  A post-9/11 problem for Democrats

By Joan Vennochi  |  February 12, 2006  |  The Boston Globe

PRESIDENT BUSH again pushed his magic 9/11 button -- the one designed to 
panic the country and paralyze the Democrats.

Having survived ludicrous color-coded terror alerts and intermittent 
videograms from Osama bin Laden, the country is growing too jaded to 
panic. But Bush is still batting .500. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 
11, 2001, continue to paralyze Democrats, who can't get beyond ''no" as 
their official national security policy.

The Democrats' paralysis began immediately after 9/11. Spurred by 
patriotism, a desire to look nonpartisan and a fear of looking weak on 
terror, they bought into the Bush response. They endorsed the USA 
Patriot Act and authorized Bush to invade Iraq. Now, moving beyond the 
much-maligned neo-con strategy to their own national security vision is 
proving to be difficult.

During the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry, the Democratic 
nominee, tried but failed to separate his campaign from policies he 
previously embraced. Over the past year, Democrats in Congress noisily 
challenged the president on issues ranging from war to torture and 
wiretapping. Each time, the White House pushed back with the usual 
formula of scare and dare.

Challenge war, you're a coward and a traitor. Challenge wiretapping, 
you're a wimp and a terrorist protector. Express concern about civil 
liberties and you're Michael Dukakis, a card-carrying member of the ACLU.

When Democrats try to stir up citizen outrage over Big Brother watching 
them, the White House quickly turns their sinister view into something 
more kindly and paternalistic: Big Daddy is watching over you -- and by 
the way, he disrupted a plan by Al Qaeda to hijack a commercial airliner 
and fly it into a Los Angeles skyscraper.

The past week illustrated the Democrats' continuing dilemma.

On Monday, Republicans and Democrats grilled Attorney General Alberto R. 
Gonzales about the legality of Bush's order to allow the military to 
listen in on Americans' international phone calls without a warrant. 
Gonzales was excused from testifying under oath. The courtesy granted by 
Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania underscored the 
unchecked power the GOP has to control its message.

The picture that was not snapped -- the country's highest law enforcer 
raising his right hand and pledging to tell the truth about wiretapping 
-- was still worth a thousand words. Skepticism about the policy 
presented by Gonzales led the Bush administration to allow Gonzales and 
a high-ranking intelligence officer to brief the House and Senate 
intelligence committees about the domestic spying program.

Then, Coretta Scott King's funeral intervened. Four presidents attended 
-- Democrats Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and the Republican father and 
son, George H.W. and George W. Bush. Carter used the platform to allude 
to the Bush administration wiretapping controversy. He mentioned the 
difficulties that Mrs. King and her husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King 
Jr., endured as they became the target of secret government wiretapping; 
he failed to mention that attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, a 
Democrat, authorized the King wiretapping. In their funeral remarks, the 
Bushes took the gracious approach, leaving the Democrats to look 
tastelessly partisan.

Moments like that undercut the Democrats' ability to exploit the growing 
public perception of incompetence and abuse of power in the Bush White 
House. Facing the 2006 election year, Republicans in Congress are 
attuned to the public's unhappiness over the direction the country is 
headed. It is apparent in the GOP's pressing of Gonzales about 
wiretapping; the resistance to certain provisions of the Patriot Act; 
and the criticism of the administration's slow reaction to Hurricane 
Katrina.

But whenever resistance to his policies starts to reach critical mass, 
Bush pushes the old 9/11 button:

Speaking to the National Guard Association this week, he revealed that 
the United States and governments of several Southeast Asian countries 
disrupted a plan by Al Qaeda to hijack a commercial airliner and fly it 
into a Los Angeles skyscraper in early 2002. Vice President Dick Cheney 
told a group of conservatives at the Heritage Foundation that the 
country has been protected from additional terrorist attacks by ''more 
than just luck."

Average citizens smirk, and Democrats scoff. Bush never fails to 
entertain. This time, he referred to the West Coast target as the 
''Liberty Tower" instead of the ''Library Tower."

But until Democrats come up with a post-9/11 strategy, the Bush White 
House and the GOP get the last laugh.

Who makes you feel safer?

Hillary Clinton or John McCain?

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/02/12/a_post_911_problem_for_democrats/
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