I am a Democrat. I believe in the ideals of the Democratic Party and hope to see a Democrat in the White House in 2009. However, lately I have become disturbed not by the opposition from the right but rather by the obstruction from the left that threatens my hope. Recent radical rhetoric from our own party rank has aroused my dismay that perhaps my party can lose again in '08 because of our own liberal idealists who refuse to play pragmatic politics. The '06 election was hardly a public mandate for the Democratic Party. Rather, it was a backlash against the Republicans who didn't quite stand up to their own principles. Yes, it was a blue year, but to assume the American public has now embraced liberalism would be a terrible error. The Democratic Party, more than ever, needs to be a big tent party that opens the door for many moderates and even former Republicans who have become disenchanted with the GOP.
Unfortunately, my liberal colleagues seem bent on ruining this opportunity by insisting on ideological consistency. Because of their opposition to war, they insist U.S. soldiers in Iraq should be deprived of adequate funding to perform their task. They hint at censuring, or worse impeaching, President Bush, fully knowing it would never pass and would only polarize the already-polarized public. What most disturbs me is their unforgivable attitude toward Democrats who are willing to go across the aisle and find common ground with Republicans. A week ago, my fellow editorial columnist Paul Perry denounced Clinton and Edwards for their votes in 2002 to grant President Bush right to take necessary military actions as he sees fit in Iraq.
People today can say horrible things about the current war in Iraq, but how in the world could the Democrats have known the result back in 2002? It was only a year after the 9/11 attacks, and so many unknown factors clouded the situation in Iraq. Without concrete evidence to go against President Bush's policy back then, can my liberal colleagues really condemn the Democrats in Congress at the time for not giving our president a chance to solve the issue in Iraq to the best of his ability?
Certainly the Iraq War was a disaster, but it was a disaster due to the ill performance of the Bush administration, which betrayed the nation's trust. Clinton, Edwards and the Democrats in Congress are not instigators of our trouble in Iraq but only victims whose trust was betrayed by our commander-in-chief. To say they don't deserve to run for president just because of their one well-intentioned mistake is an unjustifiable arrogance on the part of our pure liberal colleagues who seek to purge those of us who are willing to make compromises for the greater good.
For some reason, the liberals within the Democratic Party seem to think we will sail through victory in '08. The liberals were also assured of their victory in '88 and 2000, only to be outmatched by the Republicans. No Democrat should think Republicans would so easily give up the contest for in '08. Republicans are more than capable of coming out as compassionate conservatives and at the same time mobilizing the party's wide anti-liberal base.
To meet the GOP challenge, Democrats have to be flexible enough to widen their base of support. I understand the liberals' deep bitterness against the current administration. However, any Democratic candidate running on ideological confrontation, even if he or she does win, would be met with equally bitter confrontation from the conservatives. Do my liberal colleagues really want to further tear this nation apart with political bickering?
The Democratic Party prides itself as the party of the people. Hopefully this includes a majority of non-liberal Americans. To lead this nation, the Democrats should not imprison themselves to confrontational ideological purity, but reach out and communicate with those who actually share most of our concerns but with different solutions. At the end of the day, the new president would be charged to lead neither conservatives nor liberals, but United States of America, and I hope my party's nominee would be fit to take up that task.
Jong Eun Lee is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and a liberal columnist for The Eagle.
