The Moderate Republican

It's Security, Stupid.

Arianna Huffington, someone I rarely agree with, made a convincing argument in today's Los Angeles Times about how the Democrats missed an opportunity to focus on national security over the economy. Let's be honest, the Dems and Kerry in particular never seemed very strong on this issue. It's not that Kerry probably couldn't have done a good job, but it was never emphasized as much.

Thing is, Kerry had an opening in how Bush has handled the war on terror. The only reason Bush had a lead in that area is that he had a more convincing story even though his records is not as shiny as he tends to believe. Many "eagles" or "ravens" like myself were not please with how Bush has handled terrorism and Iraq and wanted a more confident hand. Kerry could have used this wariness from those of us who know the threat is real to his advantage. Instead, he focused on the economy which in many cases Bush had no control over.

I think however this shows more about the Dem's wariness on anything that deals with security and defense than anything else. There has always been a prevailing mood among some that the fight against terror was unecessary. The Dems need to realize that to win they have to not only talk about the Butter, they need to talk about the Guns as well.