TNR ENDORSES JOE


Not exactly a shocker here . But this section of the endorsement bears close reading.

Most Democratic strategists seem to view Lieberman's brave, consistent foreign policy record as less valuable against Bush than the military experience of John Kerry or Wesley Clark. But the assumption that the Democratic Party can make itself credible on defense through the personal heroism of its leaders trivializes its problem--much as the Republican Party does when it finds black and Hispanic spokesmen to sell its urban policies. The Democrats' national security problem stems from the public perception that its leaders lack a clear, aggressive strategy for defending the country at a dangerous time. Neither Kerry nor Clark--who have taken contradictory positions on the war in Iraq and opportunistically opposed the $87 billion for Iraqi reconstruction--have addressed this crisis of ideas. Lieberman has.

I would go further. The Dem's national security problem stems from the reality that its leaders lack a clear, agressive strategy for defending the country. The Dean wing, embracing the worst of the party's Jeffersonian instincts makes the argument that such a strategy is not necessary and in fact counterproductive. The centrist/Clinton wing (at first embracing Kerry, now rallying around Clark) fundamentally treats national security as a political, and not an ideological problem to be solved by putting a military hero in front of a muddy mix of consensus Hamiltonian-globalist ideas. The stark reality is that for Wilsonian Dems, who believe that the best way to ensure American freedom is to export it throughout the world, Lieberman is not just the best address, but the only address.