Right though Matt Stoller's riff on the inadequacy of the "War on Terror" metaphor may be, I don't care how big your lock is, them horses are way gone. Attempts to reframe the discussion will inevitably be cast as efforts to undersell the dangers of terror -- never a good box to be in. Hell, remember when Bush and Co tried to bring in their own new metaphor, the "Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism"? Even they can't climb out of this hole.
Of course, I'm assuming that Stoller is suggesting a less expansive label. Widening the War on Terror to the War on Scary-Looking Brown People would likely be wildly popular, but I'd cast a vote agin'. I would suggest, though, that the War on Terror is actually en route to becoming useful. I don't think that the definition of "terror" is actually as unclear as Matt makes it out to be. Folks have a pretty good idea of what's meant by "terror," which is "terrorist." It's been Bush's singular "genius" to bust out of the constraints imposed by his already expansive framework -- hence his attempt to reframe onto violent extremism (which Hussein could potentially be said to support) rather than terror. Democrats should be very pedantic about the war we should be fighting and very cross about the one we've actually ended up in. The War on Terror, though imprecise, would never have condoned Iraq. It was the GOP's sin to lose focus and start a whole other conflict. Democrats should point it out.
