Wampum

This morning, like I'm sure many of you, I surfed the internets for reaction to Seymour Hersch's latest blockbuster in the New Yorker. According to Hersch's unnamed sources, Bush is seriously considering the use of nuclear weapons against Iran, ostensibly to destroy their ability to produce enriched uranium, whether for peaceful or non-peaceful uses.

Over at Kevin Drum's place, commenter Frequency Kenneth posed a self-answered question which got me thinking:

Other than wringing her hands, does Jane Harman offer a way forward to deal with Iran??

No. Harman is in the Reid/Pelosi mold. Don't offer any alternative plan. Sit on the sidelines, whine, complain. Wring your hands. Pout about the quality of intelligence. Talk vaguely about the United Nations. Say you are Very Concerned.

In my estimation, there are two scenarios playing themselves out with the Administration's sabre-rattling on Iran. One, that Rove has determined this will be the issue that unites Congressional Republicans and the ribbon-magnet base, at least enough as to make it through the November midterms with Republican majorities relatively intact. Or, two, Bush and Company really are insane and plan on nuking Iran.

If Rove has started the ball rolling on the first scenario, he wins when Democrats react. Whether it's wringing their hands on MSNBC or developing elaborate counter-proposals, Rove succeeds in a dramatic ground shift, taking the current emphasis off of the whole Republican "culture of corruption" which threatens to derail one-party rule, and moving it to, frankly, anything else. Democrats cannot win by reacting under that scenario. They lose by merely doing that, reacting, as, once again, the Republicans control the agenda, and hence the debate, the talking points, the media, etc., etc., ad nauseam.

Under the second scenario, Democrats hold no power, so there's nothing we can do as well. And since we won't actually know if this is a game of Rovarian wag-the-dog, or Bush's messianic complex finally winning out, until bombs fall on Iran, there is nothing to be done. Bush will not be impeached under a GOP Congress, and failing some sort of coup d'etat, a very bad outcome under nearly all conceivable circumstances, if Bush and the imperial Presidency decide they want to start WWIII, they will. Democrats wield no power - there is no way to stop the madman, and wringing our hands and gnashing our teeth simply waste time, energy and good dental work.

Democrats should continue the work of exposing the corruption of the Congress and the Executive, and keep our eye on the ball of winning Congress back in November. Should Bush drop bombs on Teheran, all bets are off, and Americans should take to the streets. But unless that time comes, our actions should be our own.

Eric and I were discussing the issue this morning. His point: "I knew a dog once, a dog who would chase the spot of a flashlight wherever it went. We should not be that dog."