As If Failure Deserved a Euphemism

Noam Scheiber adds this point in his recent column: "Many moderates, radicalized by President Bush, now define themselves as liberals."

Perhaps as a case in point is this blog entry by The Hill's Brent Budowsky, entitled "Neoconservatism Is Dead":

Charles Krauthammer, not content with having been proven deadly wrong in his worldview of many years, learning nothing from the bloody disasters of the policies he so aggressively promoted, now attacks Barack Obama for suggesting America should talk with enemies as well as friends.

Our first and last neoconservative president, George W. Bush, is the lead witness for the prosecution in the case whose verdict is the death of neoconservatism.

Never has any philosophy been proven so wrong, so fatal, so disastrous for our country and so deadly for our troops as the views expounded by neoconservative theoreticians.

Why is that such evidence? ... and for that matter, who the heck is Brent Budowsky? Watch closely:

From the mid-1970’s to 1990 Brent Budowsky served in senior Congressional Staff positions including Legislative Assistant to former U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, and Legislative Director to Representative Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Majority Whip.

With Senator Bentsen Mr. Budowsky was extensively involved with the Intelligence Identities Protection Law and Intelligence Officers Death Benefits Act. During his years with Congressional Leadership he was involved with conflicts ranging from Central America and opposing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to supporting freedom in Eastern Europe and world trade issues.

Mr. Budowsky left politics in 1990 to pursue business interests involving marketing and public affairs ranging from the talent agency that represented Frank Sinatra to a Papal CD to traditional corporate business. Mr. Budowsky reengaged politically after 9-11 and informally advises both Democrats and Republicans. His politics are demonstrated in columns he occasionally writes.

In a trilogy of essays in the Christian Science Monitor, Mr. Budowsky proposed after the contested 2000 election that both parties reach out for a new bipartisanship. He later proposed “Lets Make the Democrats the Patriot Party” and finally called in 2002 for a “Star Spangled” national unity ticket of Bob Kerrey and John McCain.

Writing in the National Review Online (12/15/04) an essay titled “Reagan, Roosevelt, Rushmore” Mr. Budowsky called Presidents FDR and Ronald Reagan “the great bookends of freedom” who were the indispensable leaders in the victories over fascism and communism. Mr. Budowsky deplores the partisanship and divisions in American politics today and calls for a new bipartisanship necessary for a nation at war, facing what he believes is an inevitable terrorist WMD attack on American soil unless dramatic bipartisan initiatives are undertaken.

Not exactly your most strident partisan from the sounds of it.

I wouldn't say that I'd go so far as to call myself liberal. I'll leave that to my Republican friends. But there's no denying that the very evident and numerous failures of the last 6+ years has certainly solidified a rather broad degree of agreement among those from the center to the left.

Budowsky's obit on neoconservatism is well worth reading ... if only for the realization of where he started out.