Public opinion vs. conventional wisdom

I've never seen anybody get flamed this bad in the blogging world. It's especially alarming given the fact that it's Joe Klein's very own blog. He really had no clue what he was getting himself into.

The problem with Joe Klein (and I don't hate his articles as much as the liberal bloggers do -- I find some of them to be pretty enlightening) is along the lines of what Brad was talking about with The New Republic. A lot of these pundit, elitist writers have totally lost touch with American politics. Their "conventional wisdom" often seems more applicable to a distant galaxy.

Take, for instance, the "conventional wisdom" on cutting off funding for the Iraq War. Any casual reader of all the mainstream media outlets would unquestionably be led to believe that the party that voted to strip the commander in chief of his powers and use the Congressional power of the purse to stop the Iraq War would be committing political suicide. I've been arguing on and on for a while now, that public opinion is often misguided and irrelevant, but that what people are really looking for is strong leadership and passionate, entrenched beliefs (though not entrenched to the point of stubborness). So regardless of what the American people think of cutting off funds, they clearly oppose the war, oppose Bush, and want our troops out within the next year. So how could it be politically detrimental for Democrats to stand up and use their Constitutional power to its full capacity to force an end to the war? Wouldn't the American people see this, at the very least, as an act of courage?

Despite the elitist consensus that cutting off funds in unthinkable, a Fox News poll shows that the non-binding resolution is a waste of time and that half of Americans would support cutting off funds to end the war. Even when Democrats have public opinion behind them, they still refuse to act on specifically what it is mandating. Why? Because of pundits like Joe Klein, The New Republic, etc. who have driven it into their heads that they would be writing their political obituaries.

Still, it's nice to have public opinion on your side, but it doesn't mean its always right. Doing what is right and what you believe should always take precedence. But why do what you don't believe when public opinion is on your side?