Gary, there’s not much I’ll argue with in your blog today except, of course, Republicans going left. (And I do tremble at the thought of John Edwards winning Iowa, even if it is at Hillary’s expense).

I admire President Bush for trying to fight a war on terrorism. But, now, after a series of defeats voters have said to him, You are losing the war so we are electing Democrats. What went wrong? Perhaps the fatal decision happened, even before we invaded Iraq, when the President substituted the Rumsfeld Doctrine for the Powell Doctrine. The Powell Doctrine said to use overwhelming force in Iraq; the Rumsfeld Doctrine said to use just enough, which turned out to be too little. Rumsfeld is now the first post-election casualty.

Will Democrats correct the mistakes the President made? Or commit new mistakes of their own? The peace-wing of the Democratic Party seems likely to reject any strategy short of military disengagement. But does that offer any real hope of defeating terrorism?

It is hard to see how. But we may now have to walk the road of ‘no war at all’ until that strategy fails. Then we may find ourselves back where we started: with the Powell Doctrine and the use of overwhelming force.

To comment, send us an email to comment@talkingaboutpolitics.com.