Earlier this week, the Democratic Party released its “plan for America” as a part of its strategy for the 2006 midterm elections. The plan, which they titled “Real Security: The Democratic Plan to Protect America and Restore our Leadership in the World,” once again attempts to define the Democratic Party largely by taking stands on traditional Republican issues—in this case “national security”—and directs itself towards a narrow base of “centrist” voters instead of crafting their own vision for the country. In many ways, the platform can be seen as a response to Republican strategist and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove who in January sought to frame the 2006 elections, like he did in 2002, on terrorism and national security:
At the core, we are dealing with two parties that have fundamentally different views on national security… Republicans have a post-9/11 worldview and many Democrats have a pre-9/11 worldview. That doesn’t make them unpatriotic — not at all. But it does make them wrong — deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong.
In response, the Democratic Party’s plan begins by identifying “the first responsibility of the government” as the “security of every American” and goes on to describe how that Democrats will improve security through continuing “the War on Terror.” As was the case in the 2004 elections, the Democratic Party as a whole does not take a position against the Iraq War and instead says that it will “honor the sacrifice of our troops” by working to expand Iraqi sovereignty and engage in a “responsible redeployment of US forces,” expand the international presence in Iraq, and hold the Bush administration accountable for its manipulated intelligence and lack of planning. The specifics of what they will do in Iraq, like the specifics of almost everything in the plan, are lacking, with the Democrats only stating that they will “succeed” in Iraq. What is perhaps most striking about the Democratic plan is that it accepts the Bush administration’s premise in almost every case. It accepts the notion that the United States has a responsibility in Iraq that precludes an immediate withdrawal of US troops, while also accepting the premise that there is nothing wrong with the United States’ domination of the world and indeed does not argue against the imperialism of the Bush administration but rather says that it will do it better. Even the tough-sounding rhetoric of the document adopts the language of the Bush administration, with the Democrats talking about how they will “eliminate” Osama Bin Laden, succeed in “the War on Terror,” and strengthen the military. The plan focuses on creating a “21st Century Military,” “the War on Terror,” “Homeland Security,” “Iraq,” and “Energy Independence,”
Interestingly, the Democrats’ 10-page brochure version contains a portion in Spanish, but there is no mention of many Democrats’ support for further restricting immigration and “strengthening” the border. As part of this support, Senator Ken Salazar, gave a speech in the Senate on Tuesday in which he lauded the criminal enforcement components of the Senate’s bill. Nor does it mention the fact that the majority of Democrats have distanced themselves from Senator Russ Fiengold’s resolution to censure President Bush, a move that could hold the Bush administration immediately accountable for its actions.
