T H E E X A M I N ER22 SU N DAY, NOV E M BER 8 , 2009
COMMENTARY
DIM BULB: WHO: Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. WHAT: After Democrats suffered badly in Tuesday's elections,
Connolly summarized the lessons he'd learned. "I concluded from last night, we've got to pass health care,"
he said, "make sure I give Democrats something to be excited about." WHY IT'S DIM: If the Election Day
problem was too much government, the solution is not more government. CURE: Perhaps it's best if he just
follows his own advice and begins searching for a new job for after the next election.
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Daniel Snyder
F
inally, some transparency
from the Obama White
House.Irefertosee-through
efforts to affect nonchalance
about Tuesday's elections in which
Republicans made gains unthinkable
just a year ago.
No, of course President Obama
wouldn't be watching election
returns, senior aides told the media
in advance. Wasn't there a Chicago
Bulls game on that night?
But it wasn't elections in general
that put the president off. It was
these elections in particular. As
White House spokesman Robert
Gibbs later reported, the president
spent Election Night 2009 watching
an HBO special about his own elec-
tion in 2008. By Gibbs' reckoning,
as Newsbusters.com's Kyle Bren-
nen notes, this was the second time
the president had watched his own
election story.
Maybe it gets better with age. Or
maybe it offers an affirming rush of
newfound nostalgia.
Either way, the president's self-
involved example offers a lesson.
Such retrospection, narcissistic or
not, is precisely what Republicans
must not lapse into with their own
stunning victories.
Yes, the People voted in two key
states to beat down Big Obama Gov-
ernment, but conservatives must
offer more than pushback next time.
There's a war going on, a gargantuan
national effort that these mainly
state and local elections naturally
said nothing about.
I was reminded of this gaping
political hole when a prominent
British Labor politician, Kim How-
ells, made news in Great Britain
this week with a proposal summed
up under the Guardian headline:
"It's time to pull out of Afghanistan
and take the fight to Bin Laden in
Britain."
This proposal, coming from a for-
mer Foreign Office minister who has
supported the war in Afghanistan,
is guaranteed to crack the U.K. war
debate wide open, something that
has yet to happen here.
And what does he mean? In a
lengthyessayappearingthesameday
five British troops were murdered by
a Taliban-linked Afghan policeman,
Howell explains that seven years of
military and civilian aid have neither
destroyed al Qaeda in Afghanistan
nor the Taliban. Regardless of future
results, he writes, "it is salutary to
remember that Afghanistan has
never been the sole location of ter-
rorist training camps."
The light begins to dawneth.
"If we accept," Howells continues,
"that al Qaeda continues to pose a
deadly threat to the U.K., and if we
know that it is capable of changing
the locations of its bases and modify-
ing its attack plans, we must accept
that we have a duty to question the
wisdom [of] the deployment of our
forces to Afghanistan.
"It is time to ask whether the
fight against those who are intent
on murdering British citizens might
better be served by [bringing] home
the great majority of our fighting
men and women and concentrate
on using the money saved to secure
our own borders, gather intelligence
on terrorist activities inside Britain,
expand our intelligence operations
abroad, cooperate with foreign intel-
ligence services, and counter the
propaganda of those who encourage
terrorism. ..."
Hallelujah, it's a start. Someone in
high political place seems to realize
that what I think of as a multilevel
war on Shariah-spreading jihad isn't
confined to the sketchy borders of
Afghanistan,isn'tsolvedbypolitically
correct fantasies of "nation-build-
ing," and, further, is already raging
unopposed within the U.K. itself.
This is at least a variation on my call
to stop nation-building in the Islamic
world and start nation-saving in the
Western one.
The resulting reconfiguration of
British priorities, Howells believes,
would also reconfigure British life:
"Life inside the U.K. would have to
change," he writes. "There would be
more intrusive surveillance in certain
communities, more police officers on
the streets, more border officials at
harbors and airports, more inspec-
tors of vehicles and vessels entering
the country, and a re-examination of
arrangements that facilitate the "free
movement" of people and products
across our frontiers with the rest of
the EU."
Which doesn't sound pretty. Then
again, war isn't pretty. And it is the
apparent recognition that there is a
war being waged on Great Britain
from within Great Britain -- a war
that "nation-building" in Afghanistan
does nothing to stop -- that is the
most refreshing element of Howells'
proposal.
Will any U.S. politician, preferably
from the pro-military, pro-Israel,
anti-jihad heart of the GOP, ever
think to hurl such a consensus-shat-
tering brick into our own national
debate?
Examiner Columnist Diana West is syn-
dicated nationally by United Media and is
the author of "The Death of the Grown-Up:
How America's Arrested Development Is
Bringing Down Western Civilization."
Afghan debate steps forward in U.K. McKinley Tech critic didn't
speak up last year
Re: "School reform supporters orga-
nize to back Rhee," Nov. 1
As a professional school coun-
selor, I'm very concerned about Ms.
Phillips' quote and feel compelled
to write a rebuttal. Ms. Phillips'
son transferred as a senior from
another specialty DCPS high school
to McKinley Tech in September
2008. I had a wonderful relationship
with him and personally assisted
him with numerous recommenda-
tions and applications to more that
14 colleges and universities. To my
knowledge, he was able to attend his
number one choice.
Instead of defending fired teach-
ers, Phillips was quoted defending
some of the firings, including "a
counselor she said did little to sup-
port her son as he applied for college
last year, and a teacher with `a rep-
utation for being nasty to students
and parents.' "
I find it very suspicious that
Ms. Phillips is now striking out
against the RIFed staff members
at McKinley since she never cited
any complaints last school year
and appeared to be very pleased,
especially at her son's June 6 gradu-
ation.
Sheila H. Gill
Counselor, MTHS Class of 2009
Washington
Same-sex marriage loses
for 31st time
Re: "Va., N.J. and N.Y. weren't the
only states with elections yesterday,"
Nov. 4
Hooray for pro-life and traditional
family values! I wish to congratu-
late the voters of Maine -- one of
the most liberal states in the Union
-- for rejecting the counterfeit and
oxymoronic notion of "same-sex
marriage."
The Maine vote is significant
because we are dealing with forced
affirmation of homosexuality
-- under penalty of law. This is an
historic battle for the minds and
souls of our children.
Gay marriage has now lost in all
31 states in which the question has
been put to a popular vote. The time
has come for a federal amendment
banning it.
Gerry Jones
Norfolk, Va.
Columnist's account missing
key detail
Re: "Jack saves the Rooster," Nov. 1
Columnist Harry Jaffe's article
could have been a well-reported
story about a politician helping to
save the Black Rooster Pub, a trea-
sured local institution. But Jaffe
unnecessarily strayed from the
facts in what appears to be a self-
aggrandizing effort to claim more
credit than he is due.
Jaffe would like Examiner read-
ers to believe that his Oct. 11 column
inspired D.C. Councilman Jack
Evans to advocate on behalf of the
Black Rooster. That's not the case
and Jaffe knew it. Several days
before his column was published,
Evans had already been asked to
get involved.
How do I know this? Because on
Sept. 30, I asked Evans to help. Jaffe
had all the facts at his fingertips,
including my e-mails to Evans that
detail the timeline of events.
Why Jaffe chose to ignore the
facts is a mystery to me, but it's clear
that by doing so he was able to paint
a picture whereby his column trig-
gered an elected official to action.
That might make Jaffe appear to be
influential, but it's certainly not good
journalism.
Chuck Thies
Washington

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