To their credit, most Democrats swiftly condemned MoveOn's scurrilous attempts to vilify Gen. David Petraeus, even as they kept the pressure on President Bush to change course in Iraq. Unfortunately, however, changing old stereotypes has been made more difficult of late by misguided rhetoric from some Democratic congressional leaders and presidential candidates on issues that are central to the perception of the party's seriousness on defense and security matters. It would be a shame if, having done so much to shore up their credentials for national-security leadership, Democrats start backsliding in the heat of a national election.

For three decades, Democrats have labored under suspicion of being "soft on defense." As a career army officer and former West Point superintendent, I can attest to how deeply ingrained such perceptions have been within the military itself. In a 2005 article for Blueprint magazine, I addressed how Democrats can begin to close the "Security Gap," for example, by challenging senseless bans on ROTC at top-tier college campuses. Thankfully, old perceptions are beginning to change -- helped in part, of course, by the Bush administration's mismanagement of our Iraq venture and by its antagonism toward key strategic allies. More importantly, however, centrist Democrats in recent years have stepped forward with timely and sensible ideas for making America safer. They have issued detailed plans for rebuilding our armed forces and focusing them on unconventional warfare, overhauling our intelligence agencies, and using all the tools of American power to win the war of ideas against Islamist extremism.

I have admired for years what Democratic leaders, often spurred by the Democratic Leadership Council and Progressive Policy Institute, have done to reverse perceptions of the party on security issues. In the enormously challenging post-9/11 international security environment, they have provided clear-headed, forward-looking strategic analysis and leadership. The party now has a choice: It can affirm this renewed image of national-security competence, or it can undermine it. As the examples above highlight, the danger of backsliding is real. Yogi Berra allegedly was quoted as saying that, in losing a key baseball series, "my team made too many of the wrong mistakes." Rather than reinforce old stereotypes on national security and foreign policy, Democrats ought to listen to Yogi.