Suddenly, foreign policy is relevant - E.J. Dionne

[gateley]

Suddenly, foreign policy is relevant - by E.J. Dionne

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The assassination of Benazir Bhutto came as a brutal reminder of the gravity of the decision Iowa's voters will be rendering in their caucuses next Thursday night. Its impact may be felt most powerfully by Democrats who have been thinking less about issues than about the style and quality of leadership they are seeking from their next president.

All of a sudden, the politicians' endless loop of television advertisements took on a new and somber significance. During "Good Morning America's" coverage of Bhutto's murder, up popped a Hillary Clinton ad where the message over grave music is that the moment "demands a leader with a steady hand who will weather the storms." No kidding.

A short while later, there is a Joe Biden commercial that looks as if it had been produced precisely for this moment. "We don't have to imagine the crises the next president will face," intones a very serious voice. Indeed not.

snip

Biden's refusal to back away from his insistence that this should be a foreign policy election seems shrewder now than it did last week. Indeed, Biden has been warning not for months but for years that the United States faces its gravest challenge in Pakistan.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071228/OPINION04/712280374/1054/OPINION

[Common Sense Party]

1. Suddenly? Suddenly? As if it hasn't been relevant all along?

Democrats haven't been thinking about issues--they've been thinking about leadership style?

How condescending.

What has EJ been toking?

[gateley]

2. It's been important to US -- the real world, but not to those covering the GAME,

apparently.

[ginchinchili]

3. I think for the most part it's true.

Many Democrats seem to be having trouble thinking this one through. Our entire country is too easily swayed by image and a good spiel. It's why Rove directed Bush to use certain manipulative phrases in excess. Because it works.

[Beacool]

4. One little bitty error , the ad came out one day before the assassination.

All of a sudden, the politicians' endless loop of television advertisements took on a new and somber significance. During "Good Morning America's" coverage of Bhutto's murder, up popped a Hillary Clinton ad where the message over grave music is that the moment "demands a leader with a steady hand who will weather the storms." No kidding.

[gateley]

5. But if he mentioned that fact, he wouldn't be able to make his "point". Sheesh -

not fair, I agree.