Speak Up, Democrats

Al Qaeda and Iran are both gloating over the U.S. election results. AQ's chief in Iraq, Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir, actually mocked Bush while praising the Democrats' victory in the congressional mid-term contests. According to an audio tape message attributed to Al-Mujahir, Americans had "voted for something reasonable in the last elections."

Meanwhile, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated that the Republican defeat at the polls "is actually an obvious victory for the Iranian nation."

The White House has declined to comment on these statements, but what about the Democrats? Doesn't it behoove the Democrats to correct the claim that their ascension to power is good news for the enemies of the U.S.? Don't they want to move quickly to disabuse Al Qaeda of the idea that Democrats represent something that these butchers deem "reasonable"?

There's even a precedent for speaking out right away. Bill Clinton, following his victory in 1992, addressed the enemies of the U.S. in one of his first statements as the new president-elect. Couching his remarks in terms of the transition from one president and party to another, Clinton said, "The greatest mistake any adversary could make would be to doubt America's resolve" as power changed hands.

Clinton reminded the world that "America has only one president at a time," and added that, "even as America's administrations change, America's fundamental interests do not." Clinton's own foreign policy remains a matter of intense debate, of course, but his statement reflected presidential stature, and was the right thing to say at the right time.

Not that the Democratic leadership hasn't been talking, and perhaps revealing its own stature. The Senate's Harry Reid was quoted today talking about hearings into Iraq-related contracts, while the presumptive House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, spoke of full voting representation in the House for the overwhelmingly Democratic District of Columbia.

Democrats don't have a party position on what to do in Iraq. But surely they have a party position on whether they want to be embraced by the likes of Al Qaeda and Iran. Don't they? Speak up, Democrats, or Al Qaeda and the Iranian mullahs will find your silence only too eloquent.