Sidney Blumenthal: In Full Voice Against Bush*

[kskiska]

The remaining Democratic hopefuls are all singing from the same hymn sheet to defeat the president

For the first time, the United States is hearing sustained criticism of its president and, though the Democratic presidential primaries have been going less than two weeks, the effect has been immediate. Bush was already rattled and preoccupied with his suddenly full-throated opposition even before the Iowa vote. He scheduled his state of the union address to follow it by a day, and it was the most poorly rated in modern times. By last weekend, his approval had fallen below 50% in a Newsweek poll and he was three points behind Senator John Kerry, the new Democratic frontrunner.

In New Hampshire, the turnout for the Democratic primary was the greatest in history, reflecting their determination to oust Bush. Intensity of feeling against the president has combined with the need felt for an electable candidate. Democrats don't want either political clarity or political skill, but both in one package. Now, amid the din, the party is finding its voice. New Hampshire began to sort out the candidates. Men of destiny discovered that the crowds were thronging for someone else's future. And those who suffered brutally abrupt judgments tell much by their rejection.

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With the elimination of the quasi-neoconservative and the rookie, the remaining candidates' messages, with relatively minor variations, are the same in almost every respect. Dean can claim he opposed the Iraq war from the start, but they all lash Bush now on his falsehoods and abuse of intelligence to justify it. Among Democrats, the issue is no longer salient in defining one candidate against another. The nuance of difference means that there are no irreparable internal divisions. For the next two months, though the result appears preordained, the Democratic roadshow will barnstorm the country from coast to coast against Bush, more symphony than cacophony.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1133820,00.html