February 01, 2008

Dem Candidates Are Running - Not to Change Washington DC - But to Change America (And Say So)

Last week I went to a talk by Thomas Del Beccaro, author of "The New Conservative Paradigm." One of the many important points he made was that one of the reasons for Ron Paul being a player in the current campaign, is that, more than the other Republican candidates, he has been running against Washington. While the other candidates were putting themselves forward as experienced managers, Paul was presenting himself as a maverick who wanted to change Washington D.C. Beccaro argued that this has always been appealing to American voters.

With that in mind, it was striking to notice that, in last night's debate between Clinton and Obama in Los Angeles, the Democrat candidates were presenting themselves as wanting to change - not Washington D.C. - but as wanting to change America.

Hillary: ...So we have differences both at home and around the world, but, again, I would emphasize that what really is important here, because the Republicans were in California debating yesterday, they are more of the same.

Neither of us, just by looking at us, you can tell, we are not more of the same. We will change our country.

She flat-out says it. It's not merely Washington D.C. she wants to change - it's the country.

Most Americans like America. They want to shake up things in D.C. - they don't want to drastically change the country.

Obama: And that's one of the reasons why I think I will be -- just to finish up this point, I think I will be the Democrat who will be most effective in going up against a John McCain, or any other Republican -- because they all want basically a continuation of George Bush's policies -- because I will offer a clear contrast as somebody who never supported this war, thought it was a bad idea. I don't want to just end the war, but I want to end the mindset that got us into war in the first place.

That's the kind of leadership I'm going to provide as president of the United States.

Did he misspeak? Did he really say he wanted to end the mindset that got us into war, period? As in, nations such as Iran and Syria which finance terrorists, can seek to blow up our cities all they want, and not have to fear that we'll use war to stop them from doing so in the future? That's not just a change to Washington D.C. - it's a change to America - and a change that is very dangerous to the safety of our citizens.