National Security

I could quibble with a good number of points made in this article ("War Torn: Why The Democrats Can't Think Straight About Foreign Policy") by Heather Hurlburt, but I think her overall message is one that Democrats need to think about (especially given Tom Daschle's recent comments). National Security is one of those two "Big Things" that Daniel Henninger writes about today, and if the Dems wind up getting both of them wrong, they'll be in the political wilderness until they can get it straight.

When I was working on a masters degree in defense and strategic studies, I can't recall any students who were open Democrats in the program. There was one Spanish foreign exchange student who was a bit of a liberal, and plenty of professed conservatives or Republicans. But not one Dem that I can recall. It's kind odd, too, since the head of the program had been influenced heavily by Senator Scoop Jackson, who was a true Dem expert on national security (and also influenced people like Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz, who didn't find later Dems all that hospitable to their thinking either). That's anecdotal evidence, of course, but then again, my blog is anecdotal as well. So there ya go.

[Posted at 19:05 CST on 11/15/02] [Link]