Hunting The Muse

Democratic Arguments

I have to say, I'm a little bit underwhelmed lately by all the recent political activity.

This stuff with Clarke is sexy because it fits really well into a journalistic narrative that journalists love. A credible Republican turning against his own, how will the administration react? It's just the sort of thing that the press loves sinking their teeth into.

But it's not really news. It's drama, it's narrative. But it just doesn't really strike me as hard news. I click around the blogosphere, and there isn't near the amount of Iraq coverage that there was before, and we had an exceedingly bloody month over there. We need plans, and solutions, and we need people and bloggers reviewing the plans and solutions, advocating them, advertising them. We need to be prepared for when we have power - which will in turn make it more likely that we'll attain it.

Everyone is examining the past right now. And meanwhile, the present keeps ticking by, with solutions left unimplemented, and other problems getting worse.

I actually think this Fallujah thing would have been a lot more politically damaging to the administration if all the attention weren't already focused on conversations that may or may not have happened two years ago.

Believe me, I understand the counterpoints. Bush has had far too much credibility for far too long. I'm just saying we need to keep our eye on the ball, too. And the ball isn't the election. The ball is what comes afterward.

Posted by Curt at April 1, 2004 04:04 AM