A Winnable Election?

"I think the surge is working…and the surge is working for a couple of different reasons. And one reason is the increase in troops.”

So says Congressman John Murtha (D-PA), one of the most outspoken anti-war advocates. He goes on to say that the surge is, “only one element”, but also calling it “a window of opportunity.”
Well now we’re getting somewhere.

A few weeks ago, the New York Times leads with “A Winnable War?” Conservatives will argue that it is only at the New York Times that this is debatable; all wars are winnable for the United States. The question was never whether or not we could win, but whether or not we would choose to win. Meanwhile, I’m going to give Harry Reid (D-Nevada) a chance to retract his statement that “the war is lost.”

Look, we have a long way to go. The Iraqi government in particular has a lot to live up to. But for the first time, there is hope. The media in the Middle East has turned on Al Qaeda. People there are sick of innocents getting blown up. No longer do the terrorists have a monopoly on what true Islam is in the area.

Iraq is now a neutral issue, with the potential to become something truly special for Republicans next November; a wild card. First, Hillary Clinton fumbles the question about illegal immigrants obtaining drivers licenses. Next, scientists announce that they are moving in a direction that would all but eliminate the debate over embryonic stem-cell research (namely that we wouldn’t need to use them). And now repeated good news from Iraq? Maybe the election isn’t all but lost for the Republicans just yet.

Everyone has been talking about the problems for conservatives for a long time. Iraq was unpopular, stem-cell research was popular, immigration reform couldn’t get done, and universal health care was seen as a must. The tide is turning. Iraq is once again being seen as a front in the war on terrorism. The scientist working on stem-cells announced that they had “successfully reprogrammed human skin cells into cells indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells.” The leader of the research, James Thomson, had expressed reservations in the past about creating new stem cells to use for the research and this helps relieve that controversy. Immigration has been a winning issue for conservatives for a long time, and always will as long as Democratic governors and mayors keep coming up with new ways around the law (i.e. Eliot Spitzer). Health care is a winning issue for Democrats usually, but not if the leader of your party is someone known for their failed health care bill. Americans may want health care reform, but that is a long way from the universal care each of the leading Democratic candidates has offered. Even Hillary Clinton’s new plan is filled with many Republican talking points; the word “choice” is repeated often.

A few months ago, most pundits were writing this election off as a loss for Republicans (Newt Gingrich) and arguing over just how many Congressional seats would be lost. But for Republicans, just like the people in Iraq; there is finally hope.