How Democrats can lose the presidency

Lawrence Haas is just one of many voices suggesting that Democrats might blow a sure thing.

Yet Haas, vice president of the Committee on the Present Danger, offers a theory that goes well beyond the Democrats-always-shoot-themselves-in-the-foot school of thought.

He suggests that the party’s stance on national security could block the path to the White House in 2008.

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In an article in the British journal Democratiya, Haas writes that Democrats have embraced themes of “distrust of the military, an aversion to the use of force, a minimizing (or ignoring) of recent military progress in Iraq, and a failure to clearly differentiate the United States from its enemies.”

Taken too far, and iterated too often, these views separate the party from many voters, Haas writes. He notes that since Vietnam, Democrats have won the White House only when national security was not a major issue.

“The question is whether Democrats will be ready to answer the call for strong, reassuring leadership on national security,” he writes. “The answer, alas, is not clear. And doubts are mounting.”

One might expect as much from an official of an organization whose prime concern is homeland security. The Committee on the Present Danger formed in 1950 to back President Truman’s policy of containing Soviet expansion. A quarter century later, it re-emerged to build public support for ending the Cold War. Now its targets are militant Islamism and the terrorism.

Current membership includes Newt Gingrich, Kenneth Adelman, Steve Forbes and George Shultz. Although the group excludes office holders from membership, Joe Lieberman, an outspoken supporter of the war in Iraq, is honorary co-chair.

Yet Haas doesn’t hail from the right. He was Al Gore’s communications director.

His remarks have drawn notice from lefties such as Martin Peretz, editor of the New Republic, who blogged earlier this week: “If the Democrats run a campaign targeting America they will lose.”

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