Our campaign spends a lot of time discussing the failures of the Bush administration in bringing us into the Iraq war and Senator Clinton for her continued support of the Iraq war, but we should also take time to note how poorly executed the war has been. It's remarkable to me that three years after the Iraq invasion, with all the tactical errors we've seen (even Condoleezza Rice suggested last week that "thousands" of mistakes have been made) that the person most responsible for generating the strategy for the invasion, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, still has a job.

Generals are traditionally reluctant to criticize the governement, especially during times of war. But recently a string of retired generals have suggested that enough is enough, and called for Rumsfeld to step down. The article notes that amongst the many causes for anger from the generals:

Yesterday on Meet The Press, Senator John Kerry admitted that his vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq was "a mistake" and took full responsibility for his vote. He went on to call the vote his only regret in his years in the Senate.

That Senator Kerry would say this is unremarkable, considering the overwhelming evidence, three years later that the war was a mistake. However, considering that nearly the entire Republican party, along with several Democratic "leaders" (including the junior Senator for New York) continue to defend their vote in the face of the facts on the ground, let's give Senator Kerry his due. We only wish he had the courage to cast his vote correctly the first time, or barring that, say what he said yesterday back in 2004. We might be facing a very different situation in Iraq if he had.

The Dixie Chicks have released the first single from their new album and it packs quite a wallop. The song, "Not Ready To Make Nice" directly confronts those who criticized the Chicks for their statement that they were "ashamed" to be from the same state as President Bush. After making the statement, the Dixie Chicks found themselves insulted, boycotted and even threatened. While the incident has clearly affected them, it has not dulled their talent. In the most powerful passage, they sing:

"And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge

It appears that we can add “spreading democracy in the Middle East” to the list of reasons for going to war that the Bush administration gave that have proved false. It joins an illustrious list, with weapons of mass destruction, Sadaam’s ties to Al Qaeda, and the claim that attacking them there, before they could attack us here, would make America safer.

As Stephanie noted yesterday, according to a front page article in yesterday’s Washington Post, in the most recent budget the Bush administration has scaled back funding for groups charged with helping build democracy in Iraq through the creation of civil groups and political parties. The article notes, “The president's supplemental Iraq spending request includes just $10 million for democracy promotion, and his proposed budget for fiscal 2007 asks for $63 million, a fraction of the tens of billions of dollars spent each year on Iraq.”

Today traditionally marks my favorite day of the year. As a baseball fanatic, part of it is just my being happy to see our national pastime starting up again, with the promise of the 7 upcoming months of thrills. But beyond that, I love what opening day represents- the coming of spring, and most of all, the idea that everyone gets a fresh start.

Today, everyone, from the Yankees with their $200 million salary, to the Royals, who lost 106 games last year, begins the season tied. And while the pretenders and contenders will likely separate themselves soon enough, every fan can enjoy the feeling, at least for one day, that if everything breaks right, this could be their year (except maybe for Cubs fans.)