Hey Democrats!: "It's Gut-Check Time"

Booman:

Politicizing national security is something everyone is supposed to be against. Naturally, it's impossible to avoid politicizing policies that you oppose and want to change, but no one really thinks it is in our interests to keep Guantanamo Bay's prison open. The Republicans know we have to close it, and they know that the president (and John McCain) campaigned on closing it. But, they don't care because they have polling data.

Armed with polling data that show a narrow majority of support for keeping the prison open and deep fear about the detainees, Republicans in Congress started laying plans even before the inauguration to make the debate over Guantánamo Bay a question of local community safety instead of one about national character and principles.

Talk radio and cable news hosts warned viewers that dangerous terrorists might end up in a neighborhood jail, with Sean Hannity of Fox News even broadcasting an online video from House Republican leaders that juxtaposed the security of the detainee camps with images of the twin towers in flames. And from California and Virginia to the small town of Hardin, Mont., Democratic lawmakers began fending off questions about whether they would admit terrorism suspects into their own communities.

It stands to reason that Republicans are a bit more scared of Muslims than the Democrats are. They don't tend to live in the cities and the inner suburbs where most Muslims live. They don't ride the bus with them and they don't shop in their stores or eat in their restaurants. But even Republicans aren't as scared of the detainees in Guantanamo as they profess to be. They want to benefit off cowardice.

Anyone who has ever taught a child to ride a bike knows how you deal with trepidation. You appeal to courage. You express confidence in the child's abilities. And you shame them, if necessary, into overcoming their fear. Then you push them along and make them ride or fall. Only a fool would tell the child how dangerous bike-riding is and raise their anxiety level. When something must be done, you muster the courage to get it done. That is what leadership is all about.

The Republicans don't know how to lead. And they want to make it as difficult as possible for Obama to lead. There are a lot of Democrats out there that are allowing themselves to be bullied. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. Gov. Ritter and Sens. Udall and Bennet of Colorado ought to make it crystal-clear that they welcome the detainees to the SuperMax prison in Florence. Anyone who wants to make an issue out of it should be invited to buy some Depends adult diapers. If the politicians in Colorado have no guts then the politicians in Montana should take advantage of the empty prison they have in Hardin. If Gov. Schweitzer and Sens. Baucus and Tester have no guts, then Gov. Rendell and Sens. Specter and Casey should invite the detainees to come to the great and courageous state of Pennsylvania. You can build a suitable prison right here in my hometown if everyone else is a goddamned coward.

I don't care where you put them. Just put them somewhere and be done with it. And stop letting the Republicans push you around. People ultimately respect leaders that get them to overcome their fear and accomplish something. I don't think a lot of soldiers appreciated serving in Patton's Third Army at the time. But they wore that distinction as a badge of honor for the rest of their lives because of what they managed to accomplish.

It's time to man-up. Failure to do so will lead people, including me, to believe there is something fundamentally cowardly about the Democratic Party. The Republicans, remember, are only pretending to be afraid.

Howie P.S.: Colin Powell said pretty much the same thing in his own way this morning on "Face the Nation," video (03:10).