Whatever happened to the war? For months, it was all the rage on the campaign trail. The Democratic contenders never missed a chance to pound on the Bush administration, rip the Republicans, and remind voters over and over how badly things were going in Iraq. The Republicans, as often as not, staunchly insisted that distant battles and homeland security went hand in hand.
Now, the war is little more than a distant echo in most of the stump speeches.
Here's a theory: Republicans know that the public hates the war and largely blames the GOP for it; so, aside from John McCain, they don't much want to remind anyone that it is going on.
But the war is going much, much better than it was when this campaign began. Fatalities for troops and civilians are way down. Iraqis are opening their shops, their schools, and their neighborhoods. Warring factions are haltingly, slowly beginning to make deals for peace.
And that's why Democrats, with the exception of John Edwrads, are not talking about it much: they fear that if the public pays attention, voters will notice the war has improved dramatically, and suddenly the Republicans might not look so bad.
Plenty can still go wrong in Iraq. Civil war...a resurgent insurgency...interlopers from Iran, Syria, Al Qaeda. The truth is neither party knows what is going to happen there.
It's easy, however, to see what is happening here. On the whole, both parties are shelving the issue...not talking about it...because it contains too many uncertainties that could upset their plans for political power.
