I've been meaning to link to Ed Kilgore's taxonomy of Democratic national security approaches for a few days now, but am just finally getting around to it. So here: a link. Kilgore is very trenchant on the failed strategies Democrats use, from the diversionary efforts to, as Tom Frank once said on a panel with me, refocus "national security on economic insecurity," to the attempts to extinguish the differences and win through mimicry. But I think Kilgore's favored alternative, which is essentially "find ways to compete with Republicans on national security without supporting their policies and positions," is a bit easier said than done. And we're only now reaching a point where it even can be done.
The most politically salient foreign policy fact of the past few years was that no Democrat had a visceral connection to 9/11. George W. Bush was in the White House, Rudy Giuliani running New York. Republicans owned the immediate response, and not simply because of messaging capabilities. The owned it because they occupied the relevant positions of responsibility. Had Gore been president on that day, it would have been entirely different. Democratic ineptitude played a part in their post-9/11 losses, but even a stronger, more sophisticated party would have been in the backseat. Now that Bush's policies have proven a resounding failure, and now that foreign policy authority isn't entirely contingent on proximity to 9/11, Democrats are getting an opportunity to prove their own vision. But they won't be able to cement anything until they occupy the White House. Proving yourself on foreign policy requires action, not just rhetoric, and only the executive can engage in that action. So I'd add a sixth to Ed's list -- occupying the White House and proving capable of adeptly responding to foreign policy crises. That they didn't have the Oval office doesn't excuse Democrats' failures in the opposition, but it's part of why they've been unable to distinguish themselves on the subject. When it comes to foreign policy, voters have a show, don't tell, attitude.
