Democrats Are Flubbing Their Response to Trump’s Iran War. The Reason Why Is Clear. |
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Something has been missing from Democrats’ response to the war in Iran since President Donald Trump announced “major combat operations” early Saturday morning. Party leaders’ focus, so far, has only been on the process.
“The Trump administration must explain itself to the American people and Congress immediately, provide an ironclad justification for this act of war, clearly define the national security objective and articulate a plan to avoid another costly, prolonged military quagmire in the Middle East,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, summing up the prevailing sentiment in his party. His Senate counterpart, Chuck Schumer, similarly called for more information.
Undoubtedly the process complaints are merited, as there hasn’t really been a process. Trump made no attempt to sell the war to either the public or Congress, and days into it, the administration can’t get its story straight about why the war was necessary or what the goal of it is.
But Democrats’ focus on process papers over fractures in the underlying policy itself: Is war against Iran a good idea, or not? While the left is comfortable outwardly opposing it and some in the center support it, the broad middle hasn’t found its footing. If the war becomes a debacle, have no doubt that just about every Democrat in office will rush to say that they knew it was a terrible idea from the get-go. But many Democrats have a long and well-documented history of hawkishness toward Iran,........