The Democrats stand poised to take over Congress in a few weeks thanks the decision of the American people. Those who went to the polls and voted Democratic probably didn’t intend it, but they exercised a key principle of leadership by delegating part of the authority for running the federal government to that party. One of the main aspects necessary for a group to successfully accomplish a task is having a unified team. If everyone (or most everyone) is on board at the beginning of an undertaking (for example the liberation of Iraq) and things begin to go badly an element can easily develop that can become so disruptive and negative as to bring the entire undertaking down. France suffered this fate in the face of rising Nazi aggression. The team seemingly all had the same objective: remain an independent country. What actually happened was the French Army, despite having the larger force in the field, capitulated within weeks of the Germans launching their offensive in the spring of 1940. The seeds of this stunning defeat had been sown in the years prior by those hyper-critical of the government so weakening it, that both it and the population lost the resolve to fight.

One way a leader can combat this sort of disruptive element before it gets to this critical stage is to delegate down some of the leadership authority in accomplishing the agreed upon goal. If those stirring contention refuse or fail to carry out their duties well, they are discredited in front of the rest of group and their opinions or grumblings are no longer relevant. If they succeed, that is good for everyone, and who cares who gets the credit.

Both Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have been extremely critical of President Bush. Pelosi has on more than one occasion questioned his competence to lead including this statement in the spring of 2004. “I believe that the president's leadership in the actions taken in Iraq demonstrate an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment and experience in making the decisions that would have been necessary to truly accomplish the mission without the deaths to our troops and the cost to our taxpayers." She rang in even stronger in the days immediately following Katrina last year describing President Bush as “oblivious, in denial, dangerous” regarding his thinking about the federal government’s response. By that point the Army had already rolled in to New Orleans and reestablished order following the breakdown of all local government authority, and the Coast Guard had conducted the largest number of rescues in its entire history. There are probably aspects of the response in the calmness of hindsight one can say could have or should have gone better, but Pelosi’s clear intent was to undermine President Bush’s leadership and break down the confidence of the team (the American people) in him. Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid has been as critical of the President or more so, calling him both a “loser” and a “liar,” and “dangerously incompetent.”

Perhaps if the Democrats had been in charge during Katrina and in the war on terror, they could have handled them better. Concerning Iraq, the Democrats by and large disagree with President Bush’s strategy of making it a forward front in the war on terror. He has followed the maxim that freshman West Point cadets learn in their mandatory boxing classes (which I was able to experience first hand) and has been advocated by some of its most famous graduates: the best defense is a good offense. In boxing if you try to cover up and protect yourself without throwing punches, you will quickly be against the ropes taking the punches wherever your opponent wants to throw them. Generals Douglas MacArthur and George S. Patton saw the same held true on the battlefield and prosecuted war by staying on the offensive as much as possible and keeping the pressure on the enemy. President Bush is apparently in good company with his strategy of taking the fight to the enemy. The fact that the United States has not been attacked on its own soil since 9/11 seems validation of it. The Democratic leadership would like to change course and come up with a new strategy. House Speaker (apparent) Pelosi boldly announced following this past election that the Democrats are “ready to lead” and “prepared to govern.” If they are, that’s good for everyone; and if not, the American people have delegated some authority to them, and we will all find out soon enough.

Randall DeSoto is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point (1989)and Regent University School of Law (1996). He is currently a freelance writer.