The Wes Clark/Joe Sestak rally and fundraiser last night were all I thought they would be and more!
Well, I wanted to get there early. I left with what I thought was a ridiculously long lead time, got stuck in massive traffic, missed the place, and just barely got there in time, but it was OK, cause Wes was late--as usual!
The rally was at the American Legion in the upstairs room. We had to pass by the bar to get there. (I have a hard time passing by bars...) There were about 70 people in the room at round tables. Soda was free. Beer was $2.
Joe started out around 5:45 having a casual conversation with the crowd about Delaware County, local high school rivalries, etc. It was really terrific. He and the crowd were at total ease with each other. Joe really seems to like people. He gave his usual speil as well--the Naval Academy pledge not to lie, cheat or steal.. duty, honor, courage--courage meaning not just physical courage but the courage to stand up for what you believe in when the winds of popular opinion are blowing in your face.
Then someone walked in and handed Joe a note. I was terrified it was going to say Wes was caught in traffic (traffic was AWFUL last night). But, goodie, goodie, goodie, that's not what it said. Joe read the note and said, "The General is one minute out. I'm going to go get him." Joe left and came back about 2 or 3 minutes later with Wes.
The applause was deafening. Wes just spent a minute or two shaking hands in the front of the room. Then Joe stood up at the podium and spoke. He thanked us all for being there. Said we were all honored to have the General there. Joe talked about following Wes's career. "I watched a man, and you all saw it... this was an individual, very similar to what we were talking about before the General arrive... he stood up for what he believed in, even if it cost him in his career. ... the courage to push for the greater good... is in short shrift today. I have watched from afar this individual represent the best in the military.. duty honor courage. When the prevailing wind was in his face... This is a man who understood the difference between Iraq and a former Yugoslavia... Successful general win, and THEN they go to war. They have figured out the strategies first."
Then Joe told the story (he always tells this story) about President Clinton discussing D-Day with the Normandy veterans. Steven Ambrose the historian talked about the young kids and how the officers had blackened or taken off their insignia because in the German mind if you cut off the head the troops would be lost. All the officers were killed. Steven Ambrose said, "Mr. President, then you had these kids on the beach. That is when you saw America. These young kids said, 'I'm going to get off this beach.' By ones and twos and threes they got off that beach and went all the way to Berlin. Mr. President never forget that whatever that 'it' is that somehow we instill in the youth of America that's the national treasure you must must treasure." Then JOe said, "I'm in this race because the stakes of this election are how well we preserve that 'it.' That 'it' is being mortgaged, the tragedy in Iraq, by the failure to have real national security at home, healthcare, education, economic opportunity, the strenth of our citizens... that's what makes us great."
The Joe turned the podium over to Wes. Wes went through all Joe's accomplishments... yada, yada... "you've done it all and you've done it all by taking care of the sailors and the Marines under you." "Joe you're going to be a great Congressman." "I'm a Democrat because like Joe, the leadership in the armed forces was really about taking care of people. We said in the Army 'Be all you can be.' That doesn't just mean jumping out of airplanes and doing pushups. It means taking each person's unique skills giving them the motivation and education to them make able to make the biggest contribution they could make."
Wes said that Rove discovered a way to win by focussing on the extremes. This is different than what's happened in the past. Before everyone had to come to the center. But Rove pushed national security to energize his base while demotivating the Democrats base because national security is not "exciting" to our base. Wes wants us to talk about security to our friends and our neighbors and our bowling buddies. We're going to take the Republicans on head on and we will do better.
Here are three arguments Wes wants us to use:
1) In the 1990's when Bill Clinton (and Joe Sestak) were in the White House. We did a great job on national security. In 1993 when the World Trade Center was bombed by terrorists, we actually did an investigation. We didn't declare a war. We did a police investigation. We found the people. We arrested them. We put them on trial and now they're sitting in American jails today. And the number of U.S. soldiers killed was -- zero. In the mid 1990's when a terrible war was sweeping through Europe. 250,000 people killed. 2million refugees. Threatening to expand into Turkey. It was crazy time. President Bill Clinton stopped that war with a combination of diplomacy and force. We used 17 days of air campaign. We got a peace agreement. We put NATO troops in. It's been over 10 years. That war was stopped. You know how many American troops were killed in combat? Not one. A few years later, it happened again; this time it was against 1.8 million Albanians in Kosovo. President Clinton used diplomacy and the threat of force. Russians told Milosevic not to worry about us. But we did do it. We took action. We used an air campaign and a threat of ground forces and we used diplomacy. It was a hammer and anvil approach. We punched him with the military and convinced him to negotiate. In the end, he pulled out of Kosovo and one and a half million Albanians were able to return to their homes--their lives saved. You know how many American soldiers were killed in combat? Not one. The skillful use of diplomacy and force, economic persuasion, working with allies, that's what Democrats do. When you run into your Republican coworkers at the coffee pot or neighbors at the grocery store and they make a comment under their breath about Democrats not being strong on security, don't turn away from the argument. It's too important.
2) They're going to talk about Osama bin Laden and how Clinton didn't get him. It's true. Clinton didn't get him. But he passed on information about him. And Sandy Berger passed info onto Rice. And they left behind Richard Clarke with a 20-page plan. The Bush administration did NOTHING with it. No planning, no cabinet meetings, no extrodinary effort, they weren't interested. Terrorism was something Clinton talked about. Remind people who are worried about Democrats that George W. Bush was President on 9/11, not Bill Clinton.
3) Iraq and Afganistan. 40,000 US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, and we're failing. 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq; we're failing. This administration won't tell the American people the truth. Osama bin Laden is still out there. And the war in Iraq has served as a terrorism magnet for Al Qeada. It's made the problem worse. There are 2.5 as many terrorists as there were in 2001 when America was first attacked. "Ladies and gentlemen, those are not the indicators of a gang that's very good on national security."
"But, I learned this as a General, actually, as a Colonel...." (Long story...) The point was that generals and colonels and admirals and captains can NOT win battles. Only the troops can win battles. The leadership can LOSE battles by making mistakes, but only the TROOPS can win.
He said Sestak was one of the greatest candidates ever to run for U.S. Congress, but Joe Sestak cannot WIN this battle. He will not LOSE it. But only WE, the troops, can win this race. We have to win it because we care about this country. General Clark charged each of us to go out and find 20 people who don't know Joe, who don't follow politics. Find those 20 people and talk to them about Joe and how he is committed to keeping them safe. Democrats stand for equal opportunity, education, health care, but the Republicans dont' want to talk about that; they want to play checkers. We're not going to beat them playing chess. We've got to talk security. We've got a great record. We've got great leaders. And they are failing the American people. We're strong on security but we're also SMART on security.
Wes then opened the floor for questions. (After a round of "Let's go Joe! Let's go Joe!" from the crowd.) He asked if there was anything he or Joe could give us to help us help America. Someone brought up the millenium and how we'd stopped anything from happening. Wes repeated that we have a very GOOD record and they have a very BAD record. Someone asked how we respond to the argument that there have been no American attacks since 9/11. Wes said these wars aren't won at the top. We credit the police, law enforcement, investigators for that. Iraq has deepened the problem. There are twice as many terrorists as there were. The number of terrorist attacks are up worldwide. Then Wes diverged into the state of the military. How we're running the Army and the Marines into the ground.
Then someone asked about Curt Weldon. Wes said (kind of disbelieving that anyone would even ASK about him even though he's Joe's opponent), "I've watched Curt Weldon at close range. I tried to stay away from the bursting radius. Because we always had a joke about an unguided missle. I'm sure Curt Weldon is a decent man personally, but he's been part of that roll-over do-nothing Congress that hasn't held the President accountable. You need a congressman who can do that."
Finally, someone asked, besides getting out of Iraq, what do we need to do to win the war on terror. Wes said that there is not one single government aligned with Al Qaeda. So the idea that this is some kind of 3rd world war is crazy, unless WE START IT. He's been through the middle east. We have friends in every government there. But there's these 50,000 nuts out there. We have to work with other governments to fix this. We have to work with other governments. ONly as a last resort should we use military force. And we have to solve these problems that have affected our image over there. We've got to talk to people we don't agree with. Wes is convinced that there are elements of this administration who want nothing more than a military strike against Iran. Joe picked up after that and said that this was about the best question someone could ask. In the Clinton administration, they had a policy of engagement. They got involved early on. It was all joint responsibility and joint accountability. It wasn't a "lone cowboy" thing. That might sound good, but it doesn't work. Using diplomacy, engagement, economic might, backed when absolutely necessary with military force, that's the way.
After the rally was over, there was a fundraiser at a private home. That was mostly the same stuff, but on a more intimate level. It was more of a discussion there. And something came across much more clear there. We asked Wes and Joe about the torture bill. They're both clearly embarrassed and disheartened by any attack on the Geneva Conventions. They just can't believe it. But what was overriding that conversation was that as long as we have this congress in place, things like this are going to happen. We need to win in November. That's all we can work on. That's our hope. This congress is going to continue to roll over and do whatever Bush wants. We have to get them out. This administration wants to invade Iran. This congress will let them do it. We need to have a new congress. Invading Iran will be a disaster like we've never seen before. We have to win in November. I got the feeling that we could have told Wes and Joe that their hair was on fire and they would have told us to wait til November 8 to put it out because if we don't win on November 7, it doesn't matter whether they are burned or not. It was very powerful and very scary.
So, that's kind of the message: Win in November. As arguments, use these 3 points: Clinton had a great national security record, Bush did nothing-NOTHING to prevent 9/11 even though he was warned, and Bush has completely blown Afghanistan and Iraq. We have to win. This isn't politics as usual. And this really isn't about individual issues. This is about getting this roll-over-and-play-dead Congress the hell out of there before Bush can do even more damage--damage that will be on a scale we haven't seen before.