Taking the war off of the table will cost the Democrats big -- not just in this election, but for a generation to come. Here's why.
This is THE issue of the campaign; everything else is caught in its gravity well.
First, the War in Iraq affects the rest of the issues which the Democrats hold dear. We're blowing hundreds of billions of dollars to pursue this war and the subsequent reconstruction. This is a very expensive war even for the United States. With our economy sluggish at best, our treasury notes aren't exactly in demand, which means we can't just borrow the money like we did for decades before. That means the only way we can afford this war is to either (a) raise taxes or (b) cut social programs, environmental defense, health care, education, etc. In order to sustain the course that we're on, we will need to make serious re-adjustments to our social infrastructure -- most of them cut-backs to 1930s levels.
Second, the benefits we gain from this war are questionable. We haven't found Osama bin Laden or any of the WMDs. We've captured Saddam, but Al Qaeda is now there, too. We haven't won the confidence of the Iraqi people. If anything, people are now more motivated than ever to get us. Lots of Americans realize this, but folks in Washington have their heads in the sand over this. By acknowledging that the war makes things, in many respects, more dangerous for us, we not only strengthen our hand against Bush but we undermine his "folk appeal."
Third, a lot of what propelled Dean's candidacy is that he was a credible anti-war candidate. The reason why the Green Party is behind us right now is because we proposed a viable anti-war alternative to Bush. If you take the War off the table, those voters will stay home in droves -- not just in this election, but until a real alternative appears. That alternative could appear in the form of a Democrat, or it could appear in the form of the Green Party. These guys aren't going to just follow along and settle for Bush Lite -- and right now, if the war isn't an issue, then the Democratic candidate may as well be Bush Lite. What happened in 2000 with the Green Party was a warning shot. The left warned the Democrats not to ignore them. The Democrats can listen and win, or they can go back to their old ways and lose.