Harold Ford On The Steve Gill Show

Congressman Harold Ford – who, by almost all accounts is a nice guy and a relative voice of moderation within the Democrat party – may be a good illustration of the difficulty the minority party has with regard to convincing the American people that they can be trusted with the nation’s safety and security.

Speaking with Nashville talk radio host Steve Gill this morning, Mr. Ford – who is a candidate to replace Majority Leader Bill Frist in the United States Senate next year – appeared unable to decide on how he felt the war on terror, as currently being waged in the Iraqi theater of operations, was going, or should go.

Having recently returned from a trip to Iraq, Mr. Ford initially stated that, while he was there, he did not see the problems that so many in the media and on the left are complaining of with regard to the progress of the fledgling democracy. However, it took less than five minutes for him to go from that place to offering a critique of President Bush’s recent speech, illustrating his concerns with an analogy to the Tennessee Volunteers going into halftime against the Florida Gators down 21-0. In such a situation, the Congressman stated, you wouldn’t expect Coach Fulmer to just keep on doing what he did in the first half.

When pressed by Mr. Gill on this analogy, the would-be Senator tried to cover himself by declaring that he’s not saying that the U.S. is losing the war, just that changes need to be made in how we are moving forward in Iraq. But if the situation isn’t as dire as his analogy illustrates, why the need for the change? Tellingly, this was not the only flaw in Mr. Ford’s reasoning that would be demonstrated in his brief appearance on the show.

While not advocating for the troop-removal timetable that so many on the left want, Mr. Ford did state the need to be moving toward getting the troops out as quickly as possible, noting that nobody wants to be over there for twelve years or more. This prompted a question from Mr. Gill regarding American troop presence in several other places around the world that has been going on for far longer than the activity in Iraq. When asked why the U.S. shouldn’t be getting troops out of Bosnia or even South Korea, Mr. Ford’s response was, “Because we aren’t facing insurgencies there.” So American troops should only be deployed to places where they won’t have to fight?

It is true that no one wants to fight the war on terror, in any nation, for twelve years or more. Not Mr. Ford. Not President Bush. Not the writer nor the readers of this commentary. But then, no one wanted to fight in Europe and the Pacific for four years either.

As time goes by, it seems that one of the chief differences between those on the left and those on the right is how they deal with the world as it is. The left sees the world as they wish it was, and insists on acting as if it really were that way. The right sees the world as they wish it was – and, in many ways, it is not that different than the one envisioned by the left – but still recognize that the world has to be dealt with as it actually is.

Congressman Ford has often given the impression of a Democrat who recognizes that one cannot always ignore reality – allowing him to break ranks with his party leadership from time to time. But as he moves toward the Democrat nomination for the soon-to-be open Senate seat from Tennessee, one can’t help but wonder if the Congressman is executing a gradual shift farther to the left, perhaps in order to ensure that he will have the full support of the party leadership in his campaign.

This interview gave the impression of a man who really wanted to speak the truth with regard to the ongoing war, but was constrained from sounding too positive by virtue of his partisan affiliation. If this difficult situation is the reality for Mr. Ford, it only further illustrates the need for anyone who would be someone in the Democrat party to be willing to set aside reality in order to score politically. And that, in turn, only further demonstrates to the American people why the world is not yet safe enough to put the Democrats back in charge.