Stephanie Studebaker, who is running for Congress in Ohio’s 3rd district, just received the endorsement of the Progressive Democrats of America. Let’s take a look at where she and the other two Democratic candidates in the primary race stand on the most important issue of the day, the war in Iraq.
The position of Stephanie Studebaker on the Iraq War is expressed in only one place I can find on her campaign web site, and it consists of this statement: “Stephanie firmly believes in supporting our men and women abroad and withdrawing from the war in Iraq. She looks forward to working with leaders from both parties and the administration to develop and implement a sound exit strategy.”
The position of Charles Sanders, another Democratic candidate in the race, is expressed as follows: “Find an honorable way to withdraw American forces from Iraq. Train Iraqis to defend their own nation.”
David Fierst, the third Democratic candidate for Congress expresses some ideas about Iraq in his brief statement on National Security: “While the Bush Administration has been pursuing non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, North Korea has admitted to developing for real weapons of mass destruction and delivery systems. Likewise, many military experts including Gen (Ret) Richard Meyers, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned that our military is now over extended in Iraq and may have difficulty meeting future commitments. Further, it is unclear whether the massive commitment of military forces and money has made us any safer. It’s time to reconsider how to meet the unique threat posed by terrorism in the 21st century.”
Summary of the candidates’ positions on the Iraq War: Mush. Mush, mush, mush, mush, mush.
David Fierst doesn’t express any real position on the Iraq War, except to say that the Iraq War is a problem. That’s not a position. It’s a description.
The position Charles Sanders is virtually identical to the position of George W. Bush.
Stephanie Studebaker says she wants American forces to withdraw from Iraq, but the important question is: When? Studebaker says she looks forward to sitting down to start working with her colleagues on an as-of-yet unspecified solution once she gets into Congress, but that would be nine months from now. We can’t afford to wait nine months for our Democratic candidates to start thinking about planning for a way to get us out of the Iraq War. The planning needs to start now.
Of these three candidates, Studebaker has the closest thing to an Iraq War position, but even her position is intolerably vague. Democratic voters deserve candidates who are capable of articulating and defending concrete proposals for ending the Iraq War. So far, none of the Democratic candidates in Ohio’s 3rd congressional district have met that basic criterion for grassroots Democratic support.
It seems to me that the Progressive Democrats of America jumped the gun with Stephanie Studebaker. It’s no time for me to have to make that kind of statement about an endorsement in Ohio’s 3rd District Democratic primary. It’s now less than two weeks until the primary. If the candidates can’t get serious now, when will they?
