Dubai Ports Deal

As you should know by now a company owned by the government of Dubai made a bid to purchase a London-based business which controlled some terminal operations at several US ports. This was made public and many people became concerned about the risk of terrorism. Facing the real threat of being blocked by Congress the company has promised to turn over control of US-based operations. Democrats are claiming victory and Bush has taken a beating by defending the deal.

I am torn because I am excited to see Democrats finally win an issue and also disappointed because this is an issue I strongly agree with the President on. Globalization is important for American prosperity and we cannot start interfering with multi-national deals at random. We should be building alliances with moderate Arabs and not insulting them in a paranoid, xenophobic frenzy.

That being said I am not an absolutist and I am still trying to find out if there really was a security threat here. The vehement reaction of members of Congress makes me want to believe there was. So let's find out what we can do to make our ports more secure instead of letting the issue die with the Dubai deal.

Democrats won this issue in true Rovian style. They pounced on this topic with a unified voice when the other side was divided on the issue. Now that it is over they triumphantly claim victory. Democrats look strong, in touch with the people, they had national security at heart. Republicans look like they are running away from the President just to save face.

I wonder if this issue could have played out differently. What would have happened if this deal became public a year ago when the President's popularity was higher and Republicans weren't trying to distance themselves? Perhaps they would have rallied around the President. The deal would have been studied by the media and public and I think opinions would have turned around. Even if they did not, the deal would still go through and Democrats would look powerless.

So in a way Republicans handed Democrats this issue. Basically their lack of cohesion on the issue caused the Democrats to look good and win. The reverse has been true many times. I hope this happens more, I just hope my chosen party picks issues I can agree with them on. I have always found virtue in Democratic positions even if I disagree with them. I have a bad feeling though that I will feel revolted just as much with Democrats controlling the government as I am with Republicans.