Brian Katulis urges progressive candidates to do all they can to distance themselves from the Bush foreign policy agenda -- and to avoid recent calls for bipartisanship of national security issues.
Of course, there are sound political reasons why progressives should steer clear of the calls for bipartisanship from several quarters of the foreign policy elite. Conservatives have stumbled so badly during the past seven years that their decades-long advantage on defense and national security has eroded. In the eyes of American voters, Democrats have moved to parity with Republicans on these issues.In addition, there is a substantive policy reason for progressives to offer a clear contrast: Americans are less secure at the start of 2008 because of a failure of conservative ideology. Growing instability around the world is not simply a result of mismanagement or poor implementation. How conservatives view the world and the role of government is at the core of America's inability to tackle global terrorism in the nearly seven years since 9-11. The conservative push for ever smaller government at home and an obsession with tax cuts has not only weakened America economically, it has also created a budgetary house of cards that could collapse and create strains on America's ability to project its power and influence in the world in the years to come.
Read the rest (and comment) here. --The Editors
