ïìQuestions For a Wartime President,î by David Ignatius, Washington Post, 31 August, p. A21.

ïìA Democratic Foreign Policy,î by Joseph Biden, Jr., Wall Street Journal, 9 September, p. A16.

Great op-ed from Ignatius, who, when he is on, is about as good as it gets:

President Bush has a special responsibility this week to explain how the war is going and what strategy he will pursue if he wins a second term. John Kerry owes the country the same clarity.

Bush is not doing that. He does not offer the happy ending nor does he reveal his path for getting there.

Joseph Biden, whom I would take any day over Richard Holbrooke as SECSTATE in a Kerry Administration, does a decent job in today's WSJ:

Democrats would challenge the American people and our allies to refocus our attention, reallocate our resources and reform our institutions to address this challenge [terror]. Together, we have to take seriously the task of economic development, commit to broader and deeper debt relief, buffer countries against economic shocks, give them tools to combat corruption, dramatically expand our investment in global education, reorient the Bretton Woods institutions and the U.N. to stabilize weak states, and lead the world in a massive effort to combat the scourge of disease, especially AIDS.

We also have to take seriously nation-building. This administration came to office disdaining the concept, only to be confronted with the two biggest nation-building challenges since World War II. Thus far, it merits a failing grade in both Afghanistan and Iraq. A Democratic foreign policy would empower experts to plan post-conflict reconstruction ahead of time, not on the fly; it would build a standing roster of international police to handle security after we topple a tyrant; it would create a system to rapidly stand up indigenous security forces. And Democrats would make sure that when it comes to a war of choice, we think twice about initiating the conflict if we're not prepared for the post-conflict.

The Democrats don't get PNM? Don't get the real tasks in a GWOT? Can't embrace the Sys Admin concept like the Bush Administration has?

Please.