Chuck Schumer Doesn't Get It

Sometimes I wonder if the Democratic leadership is ever going to get it. Today, there's a report via Matthew Yglesias that Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York thinks that the Iraq War won't be as important in 2008 as it was in 2006. Pushing his new book, Schumer says "I think the surge will fail and the president will have no choice but to begin removing troops" which will then open the way for bread and butter issues like "cereal prices, discount air fares and tuition tax credits."

I wonder what kind of mushrooms Schumer is eating. The Bush administration has responded to all its failures in Iraq by either "staying the course" or "escalating." Why would Schumer think that Bush would ever withdraw from Iraq? That would be admitting that the war is a failure and that his presidency has been a failure.

Shumer shows a lack of understanding about the war on terror. The war on terror is going to remain central as long as there is organized global terrorism. Every administration after this is going to be measured first by it's ability to prevent another 9-11 and is going to have to make fighting terrorism its top priority. The Democrats won't be able to make the bread and butter issues their top priority for the forseeable future.

Finally, Sen. Schumer does not understand the historical opportunity which the failure of the Bush administration presents to the Democrats. Bush has shown that the right-wing can neither conduct a war nor manage American society in the case of Catrina and New Orleans. In 2008, dissatisfaction with the Bush administration, the war, and the surge is going to be particularly intense, giving the Democrats a shot at both a big landslide victory and a governing mandate.

Instead of talking about discount air fares, the Democrats need to pounce on this opportunity and work out their approach to governing. That's because they may actually be governing for the next 10-15 years.