I missed the President’s speech last night – spent the time with the wife shopping. Since I am already behind the President and believe Iraq has a huge success, it seemed a better use of my time to go shopping and catch up on the last minute plans for this week (which does imply a short sit down over a few drinks on the way home).

The speech seems to have gone over well. Michelle Malkin has a live blog of it here. But what is truly the story today is the brick wall the democrats seem to be beating themselves against: National Security. To illustrate the damage the democrats have done to themselves you can read my recent post (with quotes from Mark Steyn), a great post from Democrat Top Dog at The Able Danger Blog, and a piece by John McIntyre at Real Clear Politics.

The theme is basically the same: the democrats have come down against progress and success in the war on terror on so many angles they have reinforced their image as incapable of protecting this nation. They are against democracy in Iraq at any cost (they want to run at any cost, not win at any cost). They are against the monitoring of Al Qaeda agents and/or contacts in the US because of fears they, democrats, may be spied on (what is it they are trying to hide?). They want to go back to the vulnerable, but politically correct, days of pre 9-11. When our people were expendable so that we wouldn’t ruffle EU, UN and ME feathers.

Ain’t going to happen. If I get the chance I may live blog the press conference, but I can feel the tide changing against the democrats as support for our nation and its cherished characteristics (like a real celebration of Christ’s life) are reinstated into our pride of country.

And that is it, really. The question is what we include in our pride of country, what is it that we hold so dear as a society. While it is our diversity and immigrant history (we are all immigrants or descendants from immigrants), it is not battle lines and tally scores based on race, religion or ethnicity. We are a nation that overwhelmingly believes in a God of one form or another. Which means we see good in each of us, and we will trust first and foremost for that good to be shown through personal responsibility. But we also are swift in our retribution when that trust of personal responsibility is violated through violence and death. Which is why we still have the right to bear arms and the death penalty. And I could go on and on with examples of America’s uniqueness and strengths, and how the left has come to oppose them on marginal grounds.

The liberal democrats are against much of this. They seem to want to rip apart Christmas, bury expression of religious beliefs, admire the EU and UN over own accomplishments, equate family with variations in sexual gratification, be embarrassed by national pride and hope for a defeat in our efforts overseas. At the most extreme they hate us to the point where spitting on children dressed in Boy Scout uniforms is seen as ‘acceptable’.

The left has been building the case for their rejection for decades. Bush’s speeches simply give us a safe harbor to head towards as we reject the last vestiges of liberalism and the Democrat Party. The left that I admired and respected as I grew up, the one that stood for workers rights and equal opportunity for all, disappeared around the time I was still learning about all these great achievements in public school.

Now the left is afraid to speak candidly about their views. They survive on word games, where cut and run surrender is synonymous with “a new path” or “success” or “bring home the troops”. While this sounds like a lot of negatives, it is actually a breath of fresh air and opportunity. The democrats have presented such an abysmal view of the US and our efforts that once they are completely rejected the rest of us will gladly get on with exploring the possibilities the future might hold.

Americans are optimistic, can-do folks who see potential and good everywhere. The left opposes this view of America. Fine. We just have to agree their view is irrelevant to our future. 2006 is going to be a very tough year for the Democrat Party.