They're swinging at air

Via The Anonymous Liberal:

John Dickerson points out why the Democratic party's lack of an obvious leader is a good thing and is causing all sorts of problems for the Bush administration. Noting how the administration's initial attempt to vilify Jack Murtha failed miserably, Dickerson writes:

This is what happens when a party goes into
campaign mode without a single opponent. With
no specific person to target, the Bush
administration ends up taking on all members of
the opposition at once. The White House
plugged Murtha into an indiscriminate and
undifferentiated rapid-response machine and it
didn't work. Finally, Democrats have reason to
be happy that they have no clear leader.

The Republican political machine is very good at turning a policy debate into a referendum on the personality of a particular Democratic politician. Just ask John Kerry or Al Gore. Right now, there is no obvious spokesman for the Democratic party as a whole. Without a figurehead to caricature and mock, the GOP political machine is being forced to something it hates to do: substantively defend GOP policy.