The Magazine  The Audacity of Shallowness  What would the
Democrats do?  Aug 20, 2007, Vol. 12, No. 46 • By REUEL MARC
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Text Alerts  Among certain Arab elites, there is considerable
interest in how a Democratic administration would differ from
the eight years of George W. Bush. It's a good question. Most
Democrats, at least those running for president or sitting in
Congress, have spent more time attacking Bush than explaining
what Democrats would do if they were making foreign policy. But
the Middle East seriously wounded, if not disgraced, the last
two Democratic presidents. The candidates' reticence on the
subject is understandable. Yet sooner or later, Hillary Clinton
and company have to tell us what they think about Islam, Sunni
Islamic extremism, al Qaeda, the religious dynamics of Iraq,
clerical Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, rendition (Bill Clinton,
if we recall, established the practice), close intelligence
liaison relationships with torture-fo