Palin's "Bush Doctrine" answer

"Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend, and that's what a McCain-Palin administration would do." ABC News

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Many commentators on the left are playing "gotcha" with Governor Palin's reply to the "Bush Doctrine" question. I think they have misread the mood of the country.

Essentially most Americans reading of the "Bush Doctrine" is probably "In 2004 I voted for fascism and all I got was this lousy T-shirt".

A Republican has to walk a fine line on this issue. I think she understood that the question could be dangerous... But really not that dangerous.

At this point, I think it is fair to point out that the American people, by reelecting Bush in 2004 gave their approval to and a mandate for "preemptive war"... "the Bush Doctrine"

Sadly enough, Bush's disapproval ratings are more about his faulty execution of what he did than about what he intended to do. So a Republican can logically run saying, "I will do the same things that you voted for in 2004, but I will do them better, so that they work". And enough Americans, to get him or her elected, will vote that (they already have) if he or she can convince them that he or she is not such an insufferably, incompetent, clot as George W. Bush is.

In fact Palin avoided the "trap" in a very nuanced, "old pro" fashion. She avoided associating herself with anything named "Bush", while at the same time expressing traditional American bellicosity. This lady is much more dangerous than the Democrats are giving her credit for... not because she is dumb, but because she is very, very smart.

The issue is Bush's incompetence not his "ideas". If McCain is not seen as "McSame", then he can repackage most of Bush's "ideas" to his taste without fear... Americans have been voting for them in one form or another for decades.

This is all pretty simple, but I don't think a lot of Democrats have it figured out yet. DS