A Fighting Force of Extraordinary Magnitude

Via Laura, the folks at Democracy Arsenal. We'll see how this turns out. Don't know these blokes. I like what I hear so far.

OK, tired of finding different groups to blame for Democrats' inability to get over the wall on national security. Here's my proposal for a ten-step program to get Democrats back on the map:

Step 1. Don't Blame the Victims (grassroots progressives). Beinart lost a lot of credibility with me when he published an op-ed blaming the problem on liberal Iowa voters. It's our job to help them figure out what to think about national security... isn't it?

Step 2. Stop caricaturing what both progressives and the general public want in foreign policy. They think much more sensibly than we give them credit for -- and then don't find candidates who express what they think.

And although I think the characterization as a 12 step program is rather unfortunate (hey, I think Lakoff is trite, but if you're going to worship at the altar of framing, then I would expect. . .) none-the-less I agree with the thinking

Yet too many progressives still believe that national security is not "our" issue. We still approach these questions as boxes to check. Take this example: the Kerry-Edwards campaign was more focused on national security issues than any Democratic campaign probably since 1960, yet too often it still treated these issues as things we had to pivot off of to hammer Bush on our perceived bread and butter: health care, education, taxes, the environment, etc. etc. People actually said behind closed doors things like "once we give this speech/make this argument/end this debate on Iraq or terrorism, we will be able to pivot onto other issues." Many political advisers thought that we could end the debate with one killer line of attack, and then never have to deal with it again. A big part of our cAzaellenge as national security progressives is to make the case that these issues are not just ones that we can remain credible on (or dispense with through one thoughtful speech), but ones that we can actually win on.

More of this please.