Sunday, March 20, 2005
Leslie Gelb: The Democrats Could Use Their Own Dick Cheney
Liberal thinker Leslie Gelb, of the Council on Foreign Relations, tells Democrats straight up that their party is a disaster on the issue of national security, and instead of mocking Vice President Dick Cheney they should be finding a similar statesman amongst their midst. And while he also has the usual liberal rants on Cheney, he does caution his party that they need to do something in this arena, and fast:
Cheney Envy; The Democrats could use someone like the vice president
Some liberals realize the danger their party is in. Most, however, don't have a clue.
Liberal thinker Leslie Gelb, of the Council on Foreign Relations, tells Democrats straight up that their party is a disaster on the issue of national security, and instead of mocking Vice President Dick Cheney they should be finding a similar statesman amongst their midst. And while he also has the usual liberal rants on Cheney, he does caution his party that they need to do something in this arena, and fast:
Cheney Envy; The Democrats could use someone like the vice president
The Democrats need a Dick Cheney, especially on foreign policy.
That is not to say they need someone who let U.S. forces march off to smash Saddam without a plan to win the peace, or someone whose contempt alienated our closest allies needlessly. Nor does it mean that the Democrats don't also need a Karl Rove to forge a coherent political strategy. They need one like him, too. But to put themselves back on the road to reality in thinking about foreign policy, they have to have a hard-head like the vice president.
Dick Cheney sees the dark side of the world, a reality that largely eludes Democrats but not most Americans. He understands power and knows how to wield it, as opposed to the soft-power prose of intellectual Democrats. And the vice president does a decent job of keeping the fractious Republican foreign-policy forces in line, while Democrats fly off in all directions.
As colleagues attest, Mr. Cheney harbors a bleak view of humankind, especially of Democrats and non-Americans. While well aware of American hypocrisies, he conveys the clear sense that other countries are worse, much worse. He condemns those countries that condemned us for unilateralism in Iraq, while themselves failing to enforce fistfuls of U.N. resolutions against Saddam. He reminds others who harrumph now over what we're doing in Iraq that they hardly ever criticized Saddam's monstrous behavior. A lot of Americans just feel safer with a guy who will stick up for America, hold other countries to account, and talk about the world realistically.
Some liberals realize the danger their party is in. Most, however, don't have a clue.
