Democrats’ infinitely recursive self-delusion

Dan Gerstein, an independent consultant in New York, was communications director for Sen. Joe Lieberman and a senior strategist for the senator’s presidential campaign, writes in an editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal, on “The Terry McAuliffe Syndrome.” The first paragraph seems reasonable enough, reprimanding the national Democrats for self-delusion:

When John Kerry ripped defeat from the jaws of victory last November, losing to a wounded president with a failed record, a few of us Democratic outliers took some solace in thinking that his campaign's dismal performance might actually force the party to own up to its mortal electoral weaknesses. Turns out we grossly underestimated the national Democrats' capacity for self-delusion and self-defeat.

But I almost choked on the second paragraph:

Yes, it's only been two months, and it's not realistic to expect the party to remake itself even before Inauguration Day rolls around. But consider the head-scratching choices that Democrats have made so far since hitting close to political rock bottom. (That being defined loosely as losing in 81% of the nation's counties with a war hero running against a draft-avoider who has bungled both Iraq and our national finances).

Mr. Gerstein just repeats the Democrats’ talking point that “John Kerry is a war hero” and “Bush is a draft dodger,” when reality is much more complicated. Of course, John Kerry fought in combat during Vietnam, but to many of his fellow veterans he was not only not a hero, but a traitor. There is evidence (quoted even in the recently-released Rathergate report, e.g., pages 61 and 130, though nobody can really substantiate this beyond doubt) that Bush did volunteer to serve in Vietnam but was turned down in favor of more experienced pilots. Whether Iraq is a success or failure depends on one’s perspective. For the intellectual Democrat who has no proper historical perspective, even one casualty would be an indication of failure. But when considered in the entire history of warfare, Afghanistan and Iraq were tremendous military successes (see, for example, Victor Davis Hanson’s numerous articles, e.g. this one). Of course, there are still difficulties to overcome, and the Democrats’ whining about the treatment of terrorists only make them even more difficult. As for national finances, I would agree that Bush shared some of the blame, but let us first hear some Democrats in legislature putting forth proposals for spending cuts.

If Gerstein, who calls national Democrats self-deluded, is himself self-deluded, I can see little hope for them to recover any time soon.