Cringe

A big Tom Daschle speech that’s supposed to start in a couple of minutes will allegedly contain the phrase “Doing Right by America . . . means paying as much attention to Middle America as we are paying to the Middle East.” I wish I shared the child-like faith of some of my liberal hawk acquaintances that sentiments like this are not only bad policy, but bad politics as well. In reality, however, I think this is probably a useful element of a winning message, at least in Daschle’s traditionally isolationist Plains stomping grounds.