Overconfident?
Jed Babbin says we’re getting overconfident:
Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent every year on polls, focus groups, and surveys to analyze the tar out of American voters and consumers. They tell us a lot about politicians’ fates, the success of TV commercials, and such. But if you really want to know how Americans feel, you have to listen to country music. We’ve heard endless analyses of how we’ve changed since 9/11, but none do more than scratch the surface. I find a more profound analysis in the music of Willie Nelson, Toby Keith, and Darryl Worley.Their hits, and other songs like them, are evidence of a significant American mood change. Many of us – having seen how we kicked tail in Afghanistan and Iraq – are feeling a sense of invincibility and power. And that is a mistake. We are neither omnipotent nor invulnerable.
This new American mood is something I haven’t experienced before. Out in Real America – where Maureen Dowd is unread, CNN unwatched, and the Dixie Chicks held to a higher standard of loyalty than Democratic presidential wannabes – Americans are thinking in muscular terms. You don’t read it on the op-ed pages, or see it on the network news. Some of it seeps into talk radio. But the one place you hear it loud and clear is in country music.
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For us, it is a time to be more cautious, not necessarily patient. We have to remember that terrorism’s aim is not to kill. It is to intimidate so that men and nations bow to the terrorists’ political objectives. We are vulnerable, and any new attacks will be designed to do two things. First, they will be planned to interfere with Mr. Bush’s reelection. That means the terrorists will attempt to cause very large numbers of casualties again, or a land a huge blow on our economy, or both. The most recent warnings that al Qaeda may be able to use WMD against us in the continental U.S. is simply a recognition of reality.
If such an attack succeeds, the Democrats have been positioning themselves to benefit from it. All the talk of inadequate funding for homeland security – as if pouring money on Rainbow Tom Ridge will solve anything – is a predicate to their strategy. Bush will be blamed for protecting us inadequately. If the damage is sufficiently severe, and the economy tanks, they may even try to impeach him. If you think they can’t do that, think again.
Yes, we’re vulnerable. As I’ve said several times, Iraq and the economy were easy to tweak; terrorism is not. We need to take a few simple steps to prevent another terrorist attack.
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