The State Of The "Ideological Battle" In The Union

Opinions are very divided about the Iraq War. While all Americans ultimately want to achieve victory in Iraq, fewer Americans are able to see the means to the way of that victory.

During last nights State of the Union Address the President addressed energy, immigration and health care before getting to the real point that everyone was waiting for, Iraq.

The President claimed that his Iraq plan offered "best possible approach" for defeating terrorism and asked Congress to give the plan a chance to succeed.

The plea for another "do over" fell on mostly deaf ears in the Democratic controlled Congress. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee moved forward, unaffected by the speech and voted in a non binding measure which was 12-9 against increasing troop levels in Iraq.

One of the numerous problems the President is confronting with the home-front regarding Iraq is that the President is asking America to join in on an "ideological struggle" they do not fully understand nor support.

The President wants the country to participate in what he likes to call the "ideological battle" or "struggle" of the 21st century.

The American people are fully resisting joining an ideological battle, this became very obvious with the 2006 elections and staunch disapproval of the "ideological battle" in Iraq.

Ideological is the key word. Ideology cannot be defeated with troop numbers alone, and ideology cannot be defeated with ideology and the sheer will of the ignorant or misinformed.

The President is struggling to gain support for a policy that is not working, and his few supporters have been lashing out at opponents like wild animals who have been cornered.

Some expect that the country should support the President "no matter what" and we should all fall into a neat and orderly line behind the President even if we feel his plans and aspirations endanger America more than it secures America.

These pundits and politicians who support the President with a feverish and blind intensity use fear rather than logic to try to drive Americans into supporting an agenda that may in fact undermine national security and long term prosperity of America.

The State of the Union? It is in utter tatters because there are Republicans who put party allegiance before common sense and decency. They would rather be united in their plunge from a cliff, instead of warning their comrades that the plunge was imminent if a change in course was not made. They would rather be united in failure than disunited in success, and that, my friend, is utterly unacceptable and unhealthy for not only the country but the world.