Today’s theme at the DNC is “Securing America’s Future,” a topic made more urgent by the Iraq war and the simmering Russian-Georgian conflict.

Like me, I am sure you are wondering what national security will look like if Barack Obama is elected president. And I wonder how the democrats will face the challenge that Obama is losing to McCain on the issues of national security.

The CNN and Opinion Research Corporation poll released today “indicates that the American public considers presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain better than Obama on terrorism and Iraq, and voters consider McCain a stronger leader who would have better judgment in an international crisis.”

In fact, the poll shows that 78 percent feel McCain can handle the responsibilities of commander-in-chief with only 58 percent who feel Obama can. McCain also led Obama on perception as a stronger leader and who would have best judgment in an international crisis by 10 percent or more spread.

So, I recently attended the “Next Administration’s National Security & Defense Priorities” event presented by the Truman National Security Project to answer these questions about Obama as the next commander-in-chief. The presentation featured Obama advisors former Secretary of Defense William Perry and former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig and Joe Klein of TIME magazine was the moderator.

At the outset, I was surprised to find a discussion held by progressives on national security. Many people seem to think that Republicans are the only ones concerned about defense, military capabilities, national security and foreign policy. This misconception couldn’t be farther from the truth. The Truman event showed that Democrats and Progressives across the country have been developing alternative ways to structure national security discussions, but who is listening? Is their message getting through to the voting America public?

The former Secretary of Defense William Perry began the event by stating national security involves more than the use of military force, but a cohesive and comprehensive national security agenda to develop tactical initiatives. Former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig agreed and believes the Bush Administration went wrong in this area.

“The Iraq surge was ill-conceived because it was simply tactical without an overall national security strategy,” said Danzig.

Danzig proposed America make investments in a broad range of national security goals, not a single wartime event or military tactic.

He proposed that America consider a new paradigm on national security policy and cited three components of Obama’s national security proposal.

1. We (U.S.) can’t do all of this ourselves. We must work with others. – The world is multilateral. We can’t handle all of the world’s problems alone.
2. Other nations must be in the forefront. – The U.S. needs allies to take the lead.
3. We (U.S.) must understand the huge political dimensions in the world. – Our actions don’t exist in a vacuum, so we must understand their political ramifications. We must also respect and understand the politics of other nations.

Obviously, Danzig supports Obama’s thoughts on national security but he also believes that character matters heavily in selecting our next commander-in-chief.

“A sense of trust in the candidate to be commander-in-chief is important,” said Danzig. “Obama has the quality of character required.”

Danzig said the key qualities are an evenness of temperament, an ability to listen and an awareness of the phenomena of the 21st century. All of these qualities Obama possesses said Danzig.

“I’ve seen Obama under a great amount of pressure and I’ve never seen Obama lose his temper and balance,” said Danzig. “And McCain is well known for ‘losing it.’”

Obama also talks with people that both agree and disagree with his positions, which Danzig said is key to a great commander-in-chief. “Obama’s position is that he wants people to disagree with him so he can understand their perspective.”

Danzig noted that McCain does not have these same character traits. And he said “McCain often arrives at views too quickly, digs in very deeply and this quality is very destructive.”

And although youthfulness is not a requirement for our next president, Danzig thinks it’s a good idea for our next commander-in-chief to understand the century that we are living in and modern technology.

McCain doesn’t use a blackberry. And when asked about the Internet, McCain said he is going to check out “the Google,” said Danzig. Will McCain comprehend cyber security and other more technologically advanced security threats?

After hearing an hour and a half of discussions on national security and the strengths and weakness of Obama and McCain, my biggest realization was that the Democratic Party has some serious work to do. For some reason, Americans seem to trust Republicans more in times of war and foreign policy, which is surprising in light of the Iraq war. And the democrats, Danzig, Perry and Truman policy analysts may have some great ideas, but who is really listening? Can Obama’s choice of Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as VP level the playing field?

Obama and Biden have some serious work to breakthrough misconceptions on Democrats and national security and even more work to lead the discussions. Let’s get cracking boys!

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