After $500 billion in spending and 4,000 military deaths, this was supposed to be an election year dominated by the war. ...
But a worsening economy has easily overtaken Iraq as the top concern for voters, according to a New York Times/CBS poll released last week. Only 17 percent of respondents picked the war as the "one issue" they'd like to hear the candidates discuss more.
The funny thing is, the economy is in pretty good shape notwithstanding the slowdown of the last six months. Growth is low, to be sure, but we aren't in recession. So if voters are ignoring the war protesters in favor of worrying about the economy, this is a needless distraction.
The funny thing is, this would be a self-inflicted wound on the anti-war side. Our press despises the Bush presidency and has taken it out on him, either consciously or not, through stories that slant both the war and the economy in ways to make President Bush look bad.
One result may be that our press has spent so much time talking down a good economy that it has hurt their efforts to talk down the war we are winning. People worry about the fake threats to their jobs more than they worry about the fake threats to our victory in Iraq.
And the anti-war side is too giddy about defeat, in any case, for the tastes of most Americans. Americans may be worried about the cost of fighting in Iraq, but only a small minority want to withdraw now at the risk of defeat.
The anti-war side is finding that Americans care. We just don't care about you.
