"Victory" defined???...Holding my breath...........

There's a new kid on the block, goes by the name Victory Caucus.

Anyone who knows me at all knows that my biggest pet peeve is when people complain about something but fail to state an alternative to whatever has them up in arms. By this standard, I have bones to pick with both major political parties. An equally insidious pet peeve is when a proposed solution is stated so vaguely as to not be a solution at all--which brings me to "victory." So many have lambasted Democrats and anti-war activists for being against "victory." The word has enough emotional resonance to take a toll on those being criticized, and it is also vague enough in meaning to not require anything whatsoever from the person making the criticism. It is my sincere hope that someone, anyone, will offer a coherent vision of what "victory" means in this context. Could the Victory Caucus be the answer?

Let's take a look at their mission statement:

• Deliver the perspectives and news on the war effort which the mainstream media neglects to help the American public understand the nature of our conflict and its true progress
• Provide tools and infrastructure to help citizens who are committed to victory organize into a recognized and influential caucus
• Identify opportunities for the caucus to act and exert influence on America’s leaders and to directly aid and support the men and women of our military

Emphasis in original. A few thoughts:

"Deliver the perspectives and news on the war effort which the mainstream media neglects to help the American public understand the nature of our conflict and its true progress." It would be easy to accuse the writers of this point of falling into the old blame-the-messenger fallacy. The news media is to blame for not reporting enough good news. I have no problem with offering news of positive developments in Iraq, but the big picture still looks bleak. A quick scan of the news offerings did not show much relating to "true progress," but I did find quite a bit about Iran's influence--influence it did not have before the U.S. invasion, for what it's worth.

"Provide tools and infrastructure to help citizens who are committed to victory organize into a recognized and influential caucus." Super. Are you all psychically linked by a shared vision of "victory," or will someone explain it at some point? I'll be waiting. Good luck organizing if you can't articulate your organizing principle.

"Identify opportunities for the caucus to act and exert influence on America’s leaders and to directly aid and support the men and women of our military" That is a superb idea, seriously. Especially since the Pentagon still isn't supporting them enough. The people who demand victory from the troops, regardless of whether they know what that means, owe it to our troops to support them in that mission, regardless of whether they know what it is.


I do not mean to make light of the sacrifices of our troops. I have friends in Iraq, people I care about deeply. And it is for that reason that I want to know why they are there, and what it will take to get them out of harm's way. I want America to succeed in Iraq more than anything, but I am also not blind to what has been going on for the past four years. When things do not go as planned or promised, the administration tries to pretend that they never had such plans/made such promises all along. Truth be told, I have no idea what "success" in Iraq would look like at this point, and I am not convinced that any of the people behind the Victory Caucus do, either. I feel some personal responsibility for this, for not speaking up sooner. America as a whole bears most of the responsibility--we need smart people, super-hyper-intelligent people, if there is to be anything that could objectively be described as "success" or "victory." Instead we have a man that much of the American electorate chose because they would like to have a beer with him (a recovering alcoholic, I might add, so maybe not the best drinking buddy).

Will the Victory Caucus add something meaningful or useful to this debate (if you can even call it such--I don't hear much actual debating)? It is far easier to call people names than to propose actual ideas. Democrats --> Defeatocrats. The sad truth, that brings me no satsifaction at all, is that the course so far is not working. Nothing we say about it one way or another is likely to embolden anyone, because the reality is in plain view. We need smart, serious people to propose serious alternatives. The Democrats did that, even if many people do not like the alternative. The only response they have gotten so far is name-calling. This tactic was effective on the playground, but it ceased to be a good way to resolve a conflict around the time most of us hit puberty.

"Democrats are against victory." That about summarizes the argument.

It is hard to respond to such an argument, as the argument contains no points to be refuted. This leaves our national leaders channeling Pee Wee Herman saying "I know you are, but what am I?" The greatest nation on earth should be above this.

Will anyone step up and say something meaningful about "victory"? Let's look at the Victory Caucus' beliefs:

• We support victory in the war against radical Islamists. We supported the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and we believe victory is necessary in both countries for America's self-defense.
• We believe that the radical regime in Iran, while not representative of the Iranian people, is a menace and that it cannot be allowed to obtain or build nuclear weapons.
• We believe that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that has killed hundreds of Americans and which waged war against Israel in violation of every law of war this past summer, and will do so again in the future.
• We believe Israel is our ally and friend and deserves the full assistance of the United States in its battle with radical Islamists. We believe that Israel has repeatedly shown its willingness to negotiate a just and lasting peace, but that its enemies do not want peace, but the destruction of Israel.
• We believe that the American military is the finest in the world and indeed in history, well led and superbly trained, and populated at every level by America's best and brightest.
• We support the troops, and those organizations which assist the wounded in their recoveries and support the families of those who sacrificed everything.
• We support leaders who support victory.

I'm going to skip over most of these and jump straight to the last one. "We support leaders who support victory."

Sigh.

I'm going to the source:

Victory: 1 : the overcoming of an enemy or antagonist. 2 : achievement of mastery or success in a struggle or endeavor against odds or difficulties

That really doesn't help either.

I'm not ready to write off the Victory Caucus just yet. I know one or two of the principals involved, and they are people I respect. I just hope someone can formulate an answer to what seems like a simple questions. If no one can...I'd rather not think about it this late at night.

I am reminded of a poster I saw back in college, from a girl running for student body president against an opponent who did not seem to take the race, or the mpending responsibilities of president, very seriously: "It's not whether you win or lose; it's whether you even know what game you are playing."

Well said. I wish it didn't have to be.