IRAQ: ANGELIDES GOES ON OFFENSE

Julia Rosen is more than a brilliant writer, something you're about to experience for yourself. She is also a brilliant, and highly successful, online organizer for the Alliance for a Better California, the teachers, nurses, cops and firefighters who pummeled Schwarzenegger and his destructive propositions last fall. She has been blogging about our horrible Republican governor almost non-stop for a year over at BetterCA.com. I asked her to explain the significance of Phil Angelides' announcement that his very first act as Governor of California would be to tell Bush he wants to withdraw the California National Guard from Iraq. Here's her report:

On Sunday, Howie scooped most people with the announcement that Phil Angelides' first act as governor would be to request that Bush pull the California National Guard out of Iraq. It was the first bold move out of Phil Angelides and he is clearly hoping it will be a game changer. He has been down in the polls and his support from insiders within his own party Establishment has been lackluster. Angelides' team took Chris Lehane's suggestion from a blog post a month ago and ran with it. Predictably, activists are excited by this declaration and the press doesn't like it, or understand why it is so inspired.

Just because it would be next to impossible to actually withdraw the troops as a governor, it does not mean it isn't important to speak up. To understand Angelides' action, one must understand what the Democratic activists want out of their candidates and elected officials.

This announcement and subsequent anti-war rallies, is the clear action that progressives have been clamoring for out of Democrats nationwide. They want aggressive stances, which reflect what the polls show: the majority of Americans want to see the U.S. end the occupation of Iraq.

It is about playing offense on the most important issue of this cycle. They are sick of Republicans defining the debate as stay the course v. cut and run. Bush, Cheney and the Republican party are in charge. The war is a disaster. It has increased the terrorist threat and the Republicans are responsible. Arnold Schwarzenegger is culpable because he enabled the re-election of George Bush. He is complicit in the continuation of the war due to his silence and inaction.

Democrats and inependents and even some Republican voters desperately want someone to stand up and say "NO! This is not acceptable." They want bold moves, even if they are symbolic. Last week, when the news of the torture "compromise" between several Republicans and their dear leader broke, the comments and diaries at Daily Kos filled up with people encouraging the Democrats in the Senate to walk out. Or for Sen. Harry Reid to shut it down with parliamentary tactics.

Candidates and the party are starting to tap into that desire. Just look at the email Howard Dean sent to the DNC list today. It was a fundraising push titled "We're Going on Offense."

We're sick of playing defense against a Republican leadership that uses national security to scare people to win elections. We're not going to be pushed around, spun, and defamed by right-wing extremists and those whom they use to disseminate their propaganda.

Our plan for this election is to go on the offense-- to talk straight about the Republican failures and lay out a clear Democratic plan to take American foreign policy and national security in a better direction.

Angelides is going on offense on the war. It will fire up his base and it will also appeal to Decline to State voters. Once again, it isn't just Democratic partisans who oppose the war; it is the majority of Americans and the vast majority of Californians. If Angelides can force Schwarzenegger to take a position on the war that would be gravy. For now, people are happy to see Angelides taking it to Schwarzenegger and Bush.

There have been two excellent posts by California bloggers, thrilled to see Angelides leading on this issue. Go check out Randy Bayne's post over at GovernorPhil and dday's follow up at his blog. The Angelides campaign has listed the rallies for tomorrow (SF State and Burbank) and Wednesday (Sac City College) over at their blog.