WASHINGTON — The stage is being set for a major debate on foreign policy in the 2004 election, as even the Democratic presidential contenders supporting a war with Iraq are unifying behind a withering critique of President Bush's approach to international relations.
With increasing intensity, the leading Democratic candidates are accusing Bush of weakening U.S. security by unnecessarily alienating allies whose support they argue is critical to combating terrorism and resisting the proliferation of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
Strikingly, these arguments are coming not only from antiwar Democrats, such as former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, but also candidates backing an invasion of Iraq: Sens. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut and John Edwards of North Carolina and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri.
As Gephardt put it in his recent candidacy announcement: "I stand with this administration's efforts to disarm Saddam Hussein
This challenge to Bush's management of world affairs rejects the dominant Democratic strategy during the 2002 midterm campaign, when most party candidates minimized their foreign policy disagreements with Bush to emphasize their differences on domestic issues. It also provides the Democratic presidential candidates with a way to respond to the antiwar sentiments surging among party activists.
"A lot of Democrats are out there saying, 'Why are these guys going along with everything the president does?' " said a senior advisor to one Democratic contender supporting a war. "This is a way of saying, 'I agree with the president on this, but there is a larger critique.' "
White House aides disputed the substance of the Democratic case, arguing that last weekend's arrest of an Al Qaeda leader, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, demonstrates Bush's success at maintaining international cooperation against terror.
And GOP strategists said that Democrats criticizing Bush over his handling of allies may leave themselves open to charges of endangering U.S. security by deferring too much to others.
But many Democrats expect their argument to remain a centerpiece of the party's message throughout the 2004 campaign. That's partly because they believe Bush's record creates an opportunity but also because they believe they must offer voters a competing vision of how to best protect the nation.
