The Republican Mantra Should Be Sweet Music to Democrat's Ears

I think the Republicans are making a mistake in their choice of mantra for the 2006 elections, namely that the Democrats are weak on security. The results were barely in for the Connecticut Primary before administration officials and other Republicans were making use of Joe Lieberman's loss to trot out their favorite election-time talking point. (See examples here and here.)

But, Campaigning on security only worked in 2002 and 2004 (at least to an extent) because people were scared and because voters had not yet gotten a good look at the results of the administrations decision to invade Iraq.

The American people today are more uneasy than scared. The reason for that is two-fold. One, fear can’t be maintained forever. As the fear fades, reason asserts itself to remind us that it is still incredibly unlikely we will be victims of a terror attack and that no matter how hard they might try, no terrorist organization has the ability to deal a mortal blow to the United States. Two, people have seen the results of the Iraq invasion, with its attendant atrocities, and they do not like the direction the Republicans are taking the country. The response of the Bush administration, which is, “You don’t like this, well then we’ll give you more, and if you complain, we’ll call you names,” isn’t likely to change many minds.

Really, I hope the Republicans won’t change their strategy, of course. But I also hope … no, at this point I’m begging Democrats to not buy, as they have in the last two elections, the idea that because something is being repeated endlessly in Washington, it must be resonating across America.

The Democratic message for 2006 should be simple and consistent -- Republican policies have harmed America. That message is true whether we are talking about security or the economy, foreign policy or domestic policy. Being true, and matching the experiences of the majority of Americans, that message actually will resonate with voters.