Parallels

It just occurred to me that the 2004 Presidential election shares some parallels with the Bush administrations strategy in the war against terrorists and their sponsors.

In simplified terms, the strategy is to encourage the Islamic world that they need to reform their culture and take responsibility for their failures rather than blame it all on the United States and rest of Western civilization. Show them that democracy is a better alternative to Islamic fascism and hopefully they will realize that joining the 21st century is preferable to living in the 8th. Crushing defeats in Afghanistan and Iraq have shown that they are simply unable to stand up to us militarily and emerging democracies in those countries will show them a better way. For a more in-depth analysis of the overall strategy, check out the articles on the subject by Steven Den Beste which are included on his "best of" page.

The Democrats now find themselves in a similar situation. Despite their best efforts, they have been handed a crushing defeat. President Bush won a true majority of the popular vote, something that hasn't happened since his father won in 1988, and the Republican majorities in the House and Senate have both increased. Tom Daschle, the Senate minority leader from South Dakota, was defeated by his Republican challenger. The Democrats are now faced with a choice. They can continue with their current policies, and risk future defeat at the polls. Or they can examine those policies along with the beliefs and attitudes behind them -- their "political culture" if you will -- and make the changes necessary to be successful once again. Some Democrats, like the author of this essay, are already doing exactly that. Hat tip to Mike at Cold Fury who provided the link. Read his take on it as well.