A democratic president will be "Johnson"ized for the duration of the war

[The Count]

I remember a Colbert quip right after the 2006 elections: "Democrats have power for only 3 minutes now, and already they have pushed us in the most disastrous war with Iraq"
Even if, say, we'd have a President Gore, of Kuchinich, or Gravel - the MSM would start attacking in November and keep at it as long as realistically possible.
I think the political & military situation that * will leave behind will be messed enough to take the best possible choice some time to untangle.
Watch for the press that was giving Idiot Boy free passes to start becoming anti-war.
And of course, watch this forum attacking in concert with said MSM. By comparison with the new vilified candidate, Bush will seem a quaint little insignificant well meaning guy - and everyone will forget the little detail about his starting the war.
It's my sad prediction - and it's my optimistic one (in the other version, Bush will stay on - or one of their cronies will be installed after another election steal)

[mmonk]

1. Not if Richardson wins.

He would work a solution in my estimation that most people could see makes sense.

[The Count]

6. Of course, Richardson is MSM proof because.....???

You missed my point. I was saying that even a very good POTUS will still be demonized between November and whenever the war is actually over.

[mmonk]

9. Possibly but I think they don't have a method of attack

for him given his credentials.

[The Count]

10. Jesus would be demonized by the media. Nobody is slander proof.

Why is it so hard to understand that MSM is part and parcel of RNC's electoral war room?

[Rydz777]

2. The politically sensible and morally correct thing for the Democratic

Congress to do is to use the power of the purse (which originates in the Democratic controlled House) to bring our troops out of Iraq NOW. Yes, I know it can't be done overnight, but it sure can be done before a Democratic President takes office in March 2009. Otherwise, after March 2009, the new Democratic President will indeed be "Johnsonized."

It couldn't be more transparent: Bush intends to dump an on-going war (and probably an economic recession)into the lap of his Democratic successor - and then go back to Crawford and wallow in Schadenfreude.

[pnwmom]

3. I have a horrible feeling that you're right. n/t

[AuntPatsy]

7. Me too, unless they themselves can overtake the media blackout and redirect it, it seems likely.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. It will be messy for whoever is elected to extricate us from a lost war.

And, for decades, the politicians will be blaming everyone but themselves for the catastrophe.

The best, but least likely, :"solution" is for the next president and congress to withdraw the troops, and take their lumps. But, politics will likely prevail and the war will drag on so the bigshots can avoid embarrassment.

[Vidar]

5. That outcome, unfortunately, seems likely.

[Strelnikov_]

8. Juan Cole: the moment Bush went into Iraq, Americans were screwed

http://www.juancole.com/

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

In other words, the Democratic president risks being Fordized when s/he withdraws from Iraq, by the aftermath. A one-term president associated with humiliation abroad and high inflation at home? Maybe I should say, Carterized. The Republican Party could come back strong in 2012 and then dominate politics for decades, if that happened.

It is all so unfair, of course, since Bush started and prosecuted this disaster in Iraq, and Bush is refusing to accept responsibility for the failure, pushing it off onto his successor. But life is unfair. So what can the Dems do to avoid being made the fall guy this way? They could try to legislate stronger US diplomacy aiming at ensuring peace between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran even if there is sectarian violence on a greater scale in Iraq. They could resist the temptation to demonize Iran or to push it onto a war footing with threats or even bombings.

As for Iraq itself, the best hope for the Dems may be that Gen. Petraeus actually succeeds, over the next year, in significantly reducing ethnic tensions. It is a slim reed to hold onto, as they recognize. But from the moment Bush went into Iraq, Americans were screwed. And that includes the Democratic Party, which is being set up to take the fall.

I'm a severe skeptic on the likelihood of anything that looks like success in Iraq. But I don't think career public servants such as Ryan Crocker and David Petraeus are acting as partisan Republicans in their Iraq efforts. I think they both are sincere, experienced men attempting to retrieve what they can for America from Bush's catastrophe. They may as well try, since the Democrats can't over-rule Bush and get the troops out, anyway. If the troops are there, they may as well at least be deployed intelligently, which is what Gen. Petraeus is doing. I wish them well in their Herculean labors. Because if they fail, I have a sinking feeling that we are all going down with them, including the next Democratic president. And their success is a long shot.