Democrats Go On The Offensive With National Security Plan

Now that's more like it...

AP: Democrats Offer National Security Strategy

Democrats on Wednesday proposed a wide-ranging strategy for protecting Americans at home and abroad, an election-year effort aimed at changing public perception that Republicans are stronger on national security. Republicans, for their part, criticized the national security policy statement as a stunt...

...In the strategy, Democrats vowed to provide U.S. agents with the resources to "eliminate" Osama bin Laden and ensure a "responsible redeployment of U.S. forces" from Iraq in 2006. They promised to rebuild the military, eliminate the United States' dependence on foreign oil by 2020 and implement the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission. Those are many of the same proposals Democrats have offered before...

It's certainly a start and hopefully they won't applaud themselves too hard and stop spreading their message out there. I don't want them to be 24-7 cheerleaders like the President (contrary to what he thinks, they're supposed to be governing... or something), but certainly making sure the message stays out there is important. The Republicans have a well-organized media noise machine ready to drown/kill it.

The plan is certainly not all I would want, but I understand they have certain political obligations. I hope they are serious about the foreign oil thing and don't just use it as a catchphrase the way the President did in his State of the Union. I also hope they remember that there are many other issues- fiscal discipline, corruption, job creation, and a return to checks and balances- that they need to be hammering on. Those are major failures on the Republicans' part.

Also, in response to their proposal for reducing troops levels in Iraq, Vice President Cheney said-

"It makes no sense at all to turn Iraq over to the terrorists," Cheney said.

And yet, sir, that is basically what you have done, no?

The gang at Firedoglake have a breakdown on the pros and cons of the Democrats' proposals:
Progressives and the Democratic Security Plan

[PS- More good news for Dems- Gallup: In Shift, More Americans Now Call Themselves Democrats ]