Death Or Glory Becomes Just Another Story»

Kurt Campbell says that projecting any foreign-policy doctrines onto Clinton and Obama isn’t “helpful.” He has lost me forever!…

Q&A. Aren’t the Democrats hopelessly feckless? Yglz: Feckless yes, hopeless no. And yeah, sometimes it’s too difficult to make a nuanced case on TV. “You never want to be the kind of first guy over the trenches and just get shot down,” but unless people step up, “you’re going to find yourself endlessly boxed in… And this seems like a relatively opportune moment” to stand up.

Courseness in the blogosphere — is it really worse than O’Reilly, Coulter, etc? Campbell: “No.” Also he suddenly fake-realizes that it’s his head that’s in the sand, according to Matt… but a precondition for victory is unity, at least in temperament. Kurt Campbell’s hardcore roots are showing!… He makes the great point that just because you’re a Democrat on domestic issues doesn’t mean you’re a liberal internationally. Praises the Scoop Jackson tradition. Oy.

Chris Hayes Chris Chris Hayes: On withdrawal for Iraq, there’s also “a danger of over-nuance-ification.” Entrenched interests and inertial forces will keep the U.S. in Iraq, it’ll take a lot to get out, and “if this sounds overly propagandistic, so be it.” Chris, you hack, that’s a great point!… Rand is conflicted. “Half of my problem is for the media to be more responsible.” And that’s waiting for Godot… Matt: “A pathology liberals sometimes have” is “over-fastidiousness” — not to take a political issue and treat it as a political issue. He’s upset with liberal writers who are sick of the war for saying “really, what’s called for is more hang-wringing” and not, like, arguing for getting out of Iraq. “There needs to be a willingness to put aside the moral vanity in the public displays of hang-wringing.” … Kurt nods: “I liked a lot of Matthew said, but my sense is that this is one debate that is particularly unsuited for American politics.” But because Dems don’t want to be described as defeatist, they’ve got to say it won’t be so bad if we leave, “but in truth… my own personal sense, over the course of what we’ve seen over the last several months” is that “we have two options”: it’s gonna “be bad or it’s gonna be really bad.” Though people like me and Matt have been saying that for at least three years now in the service of what we think is a responsible withdrawal.

Last question, from the Washington Note’s Scott Paul: withdrawal is a tactical decision with tremendous implications. I’m not sure I understood the actual question, but Matt did! “What you would want… is to see a president who’s achievement — it can’t be the case that your only achievement is to take troops out of Iraq” you have to do a host of other things on the international stage that redounds to the credit of national security primarily and liberalism secondarily.

Kurt: Dems face “enormous pressure to come out with an optimistic, sunny bright picture and what we can accomplish and I just don’t feel it.” Preach it! That’s like a whole paragraph of “The Obama Doctrine.”… Don’t think that a Democrat gets elected “and it’s game changing.” Preach it a second time! They don’t hate us just because Bush is president… Also, he adds, remember that China owns so much of the U.S. now, so we’ve got that extra constraint. “I’m worried, and I think it’ll be extremely difficult for the next generation of American political leaders.”

Rand: “I don’t agree with you, Kurt.” There is an opportunity to “reset the table” — not to say it won’t be difficult “to figure out solutions for nonproliferation or mobilize support for dealing with climate change.” We have to “fit withdrawal into a broader context.”

Matt’s final words: “I’ll take an even further position.” You? No way! “If you proposed something today as ambitions as the United Nations, NATO and the Marshall Plan, you’d be laughed off the stage,” he says. “But in fact things can get done… You only find where the opportunities are, you only grab the wall by reaching for it.”

So reach for that wall, America! And start by reaching for a fresh copy of Heads In The Sand from your local retailer or online purveyor.