I made a stealth trip into Northern Virginia over Veterans Day weekend. Whenever I’m inside the DC Beltway, I count the hours until I can escape again. I sat in traffic at malfunction junction. That’s the marvel of highway engineering where Interstates 95, 395, and 495 collide. The 495 South ramp on to 95 crosses the Springfield exit ramp and 395 dumps right into the middle. People are trying to get off the highway, get on it and fight through the traffic and noise all at the same time. The construction seems eternal and no one is willing to give an inch that might allow the next driver to move a car length ahead. One snowflake creates gridlock. It reminds me of Congress and politicians. It reminds me of the State of our Union. It reminds me of the war we’re in.

Culture of Corruption Madam Pelosi failed to get Abscam Jack elected as House Majority Leader. It’s educational for us that she even backed him as a candidate. Instead, he’ll be the Defense Appropriations Chair, oh joy. In the eyes of his peers, Murtha is a questionable war hero. Not my eyes, not the eyes of Swift Boaters, but in the eyes of his peers. He’s already declared that the military is broken and we need to get out of Iraq immediately and redeploy to Okinawa. I wonder which defense funding he’ll be looking to cut off in the New Year.

Madam Pelosi’s Democrats brought George McGovern in to teach them how to abandon Iraq. He wrote a book on the subject. There are two phases to his plan. 1. Cut. 2. Run. It calls for us to start leaving at the end of this year and be out completely by June 30. Out in 6 months is not a phased redeployment. It’s a dash for the border. It looks like the Democrats must’ve gotten and advance copy of George’s book since they’re advocating the same retreat. McGovern’s life has been about abandoning people who need our help and honoring those that do not support our country. He showed up in Canada to honor deserters and draft dodgers. If anyone finds Mr. McGovern or his Democrat protégés honoring Soldiers that are serving now or have served our country with honor, please take a picture.

We’ve heard consistently from the McGovernites about how there was no plan for dealing with Iraq after we removed Saddam. Since I haven’t heard one, I’m curious about their plan for dealing with the Middle East and confronting Islamic fascism after we’ve retreated from our only established front line in the war for our survival. An Army and a Nation is most vulnerable when in retreat. Madam Speaker has declared, however, that Iraq “is not a war to win, but a situation to solve”. So everything should work out fine with her and like-thinking politicians in charge of the effort as we implement a phased redeployment.

I also have little faith in the Republicans in Congress. Especially those with Presidential aspirations. I watched some snippets of the Senate’s recent grilling of General Abizaid. It was just another pointless, made for the television cameras, political production. No one is looking for facts, only to press forward political agendas. These senseless hearings only serve to distract Military Commanders and others from business that is more important. They do provide us, however, a window into the minds of dangerous people. I don’t mean dangerous terrorists. I mean dangerous politicians who choose to read political scripts filled with catch phrases and sound bytes and written by adolescent staffers instead of getting from the General his informed and professional perspective of the on-the-ground situation.

I found that the most telling exchange was between General Abizaid and Senator John McCain. The General told the Senator that sending more Soldiers to Iraq was not the solution, but continuing on the path of training and standing up an Iraqi Army that can defend the country was. Senator McCain took issue, indicating that the recent vote showed the American people were not happy with staying the course. By this exchange, the man that hopes to be our next Commander in Chief tells us he would choose to fight a war according to what an ill informed and media influenced electorate thinks before considering the advice of a Military professional with intimate knowledge of the situation. That’s rather John Murtha like of Senator McCain and incredibly dangerous for our country.

Friends and pundits are tell me that the politicians will lean more moderate following the election. That’s a fallacy. Politicians will be what their constituency wants them to be, or they’ll be gone. Ask the Republicans. And that’s where we are as the Democrats take charge. The Speaker of the House, 3^rd in line to the Presidency, has a constituency that voted against having the USS Iowa as a museum because of their opposition to Iraq, voted on a resolution to impeach the President and Vice President, banned Military recruiters from schools and have now decided to remove the JROTC from their high schools. This constituency will not re-elect a moderate candidate that chooses to continue the fight and win it.

This morning at early Church service, a service whose attendance is usually light, the sanctuary was filled to near capacity with high school students. The service was oriented toward them as their state convention concluded. Not once did anyone have them stand and chant Death to Islam. That is the fundamental difference between them and us.

We are in a war that is as old as time itself. We cannot pull back from our offensive and we cannot allow an enemy that will always be there to gain military parity or obtain nuclear weapons. Failure to comprehend that by the people who lead or hope to lead our Nation might prove fatal.

We require leadership that can focus and is willing to fight through the noise and the politically directionless traffic that keeps steering us away from confronting our most dangerous problems. Otherwise, we’ll barrel straight ahead into a bridge abutment.