Democrats in trouble!

Future of democrat's stretching out in the emptyness?. PHOTO: AFP

All Democratic presidential hopefuls are finding it difficult to attack President George W Bush, whether on the question of Iraq or on the economy. Mr. Dean has been able to fire up the anti-war Democrat base, but he seems to be contradicting himself on a regular basis. He recently said that the capture of Saddam Hussein is a good thing, but it will not make America safer. He said that the US should demand that Pakistan coughs up Bin Laden or America go in and get him. In the same breath, he said America should not prejudge bin Laden. And Mr. Dean has been inconsistent about the so-called missile defence system (MDS). Sometimes he says he would abolish the programme and other times that he would only reduce funding for it. However, the worst news for Mr. Dean is that a recent Washington Post and ABC News poll showed that most of his own Democrat supporters know "hardly anything" or "nothing" about his policy positions.

Other Democrat candidates are not better. Former NATO supreme commander Gen. Wesley Clark, who led the US-led military intervention in 1999 to liberate Kosovo, says he opposes the military intervention in Iraq and wants UN participation. He forgets to mention that in Kosovo, the UN was not involved. Then President Bill Clinton avoided seeking Security Council resolution authorising military intervention in Kosovo when it became clear that Russia and China would veto such a resolution. Mr. Gephardt, who supports the Iraq war, wants the US to hand over Iraq's administration to the UN, ignoring the fact that the UN has no means to ensure peace and stability in Iraq. In fact, after the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad by renegade Saddam-loyalists, the UN has virtually fled Iraq.

Saddam's capture has clearly made other regimes nervous. That's why Bush must be savouring the aftermath of recent diplomatic movements in his direction: First, Iran negotiated a safeguards protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency last month, and then Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi announced that he would renounce weapons of mass destruction. Gadhafi, especially, threw a monkey wrench in North Korean dictator Kim Il Jong's hard-line strategy by urging other nations to follow suit. For one thing, Kim's customer base has been drastically reduced. Iraq and Libya are no longer in the weapons market, while Syria and Iran are under such close monitoring that any sales Pyongyang might be contemplating would be too risky.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Bush is leading Mr. Dean by 53 per cent to 28 per cent. He seems to have won the race before it has even begun.