Here’s a switch: Republicans are getting behind President Obama more than Democrats — at least when it comes to airstrikes in Iraq. And that says a lot more about the Democrats than it does about Obama.
According to an ABC News-Washington Post poll last week, fully 61 percent of Republicans support US airstrikes against the ISIS fanatics in Iraq. Yet only 54 percent of Democrats do.
Similarly, a majority of GOP voters backs Obama’s decision to arm the Kurds, unlike their Democratic counterparts.
The weaker support for a president’s military action — from his own party — is, frankly, stunning. But it’s more a reflection of the Dems’ growing shift toward left-wing isolationism and its fear of military involvement under any circumstances than it is about Obama himself, or his actions.
Indeed, most Democrats (61 percent) back the president’s overall handling of the Iraq situation, whereas Republicans (72 percent) overwhelmingly disapprove — perhaps because both groups have seen Obama’s response to ISIS as tepid, until recently.
Democrats have been moving in this leftward, “see-no-evil” direction for some time. At the 2012 Democratic convention, they even booed the idea of support for Israel.
The problem for them (and America) is that while they may not want this country to get involved with the world’s messiness, the world seems intent on bringing that messiness home to us.
That’s what the beheading of James Foley proved. That’s what the threats to Israel prove. That’s what 9/11 was about.
The question for America is: Do we confront the evil before it strikes — or after?