Meet Mr. Credibility  The Democrats, as we know, have many
political problems: their uncertainty, their inability to trade
jabs with the Republicans, their likely minority status in
Congress for some time to come. Checked out a map yet of which
senators are up in 2004? Let's just say that if you're not sure
you can take much more depressing news, don't. But oddly enough,
they don't have that many policy problems. Majorities in polls
repeatedly are closer to the Democrats on abortion rights,
environmental protection and a tendency toward deficit
hawkishness rather than tax cuts.  But there is one issue, or
set of issues, where polls show Democrats having all the
credibility of Cardinal Law on sex: On national security and
defense, the Republican advantage is enormous. This perception
goes back 30 years or so. In many ways, it's no longer as true
now as it was then. Bill Clinton helped liberate Kosovo and,
however belatedly, Bosnia. The candidate who received the most
votes in the 2000 presidential election was