The Querulous Party
The Left cavils and whines.
Rich Lowery - NRO
Being in opposition does funny things to a party. When Republicans opposed Bill Clinton they had flashes of paranoia — remember black helicopters? — and developed a blood lust to bring down Bubba. In the Bush years, Democrats have had their share of paranoia and blood lust, but they are mostly characterized by sheer peevishness.
Yes, there were excesses in President Bush's inaugural speech. But the wave of nitpicking from the media and Democrats was overwhelming. It's as if they had heard Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address and peppered the administration with critical questions: "'Malice toward none' — literally 'none'? Is that even possible? The president also referred to achieving 'a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.' Does he have an actionable plan to do that? If not, is he backing off his speech? And isn't that embarrassing?"
This same querulousness has been on display in the reaction to the historic Iraq vote — indeed, historic leaps forward for self-government are strangely difficult for the media and Democrats to process. When Afghanistan voted last October, the Washington Post headlined its story "Afghan Election Disputed." In other words, the news from the most free and fair election in human history in Afghanistan was that it wasn't perfect. The Post reported that some voters' fingers had been mistakenly marked with the black pens that were supposed to be used on ballots instead of the indelible ink meant to prevent multiple voting. Horrors!
A report from Sunday's Iraq vote in a similar vein might go: "Iraqis voted in large numbers, but critics say the violet ink used to mark the fingers of voters was not the best shade of purple. Grape, eggplant and lavender are all attractive shades that were ignored by the bumbling Iraqi election commission. Voters' index fingers were supposed to be stained up to the knuckle, but reports are pouring in that in many cases the ink reached above or below the knuckle, and in some cases it was voters' thumbs that were erroneously marked."
It has been impossible to obscure all the good news from Iraq, but the media and Democrats have strained to find disappointments. They focused on the poor Sunni turnout, which John Kerry mentioned in his pooh-poohing of the election. It is important that Sunnis join the political process in Iraq, but this solicitousness for the sentiments of a formerly repressive minority — Sunnis are less than 20 percent of Iraq — is odd. No one on the Left piped up on behalf of South African whites — 14 percent of the population not universally thrilled with the election — when that country shifted to majority rule.
Then there are those who can't bear to mention Iraq without talking about the scandal at Abu Ghraib. Ted Kennedy did it last week in his hilariously premature declaration of U.S. defeat in Iraq. NBC White House correspondent David Gregory did it in his commentary immediately after the vote. More than 1,400 Americans have been killed creating the conditions for self-determination in Iraq, and still many Democrats and journalists can't get over the criminal misconduct of a handful of goons at a Baghdad prison.
Finally, there was simply sullen silence, which fell over the typically raucous Left-wing blogs. Free and fair elections in Iraq? Ho-hum. Now, the Armstrong Williams scandal — that's historic news!
What's going on here? The heroic self-image of the Left is caught up with its opposition to fascism and its devotion to social justice and human rights. To see a Republican president topple a fascist dictator and do it increasingly in terms of the spread of justice and rights has to be irritating. What is left to do except cavil and whine?
And so the Democrats progressively lose their capacity for hope. Come on guys, can't you muster a little Utopian dreaming, for old time's sake if nothing else? H. L. Mencken once described a Puritan as a person who can't stand the idea that someone, somewhere is having a good time. Contemporary Democrats are people who can't stand the idea that someone, somewhere is experiencing good news.
— Rich Lowry is author of Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years.
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