{"id":836,"date":"2007-05-03T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-03T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html"},"modified":"2007-05-03T09:45:00","modified_gmt":"2007-05-03T09:45:00","slug":"sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html","title":{"rendered":"Sue Badeau: The Defeat of Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>In the cacophony of words and voices swirling around the president\u2019s veto of the Iraq bill this week, two words stood out to me \u2013 \u201cvictory\u201d and \u201cdefeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opponents of the bill call it a timetable for defeat and urge us to push on for victory.<\/p>\n

A question that has long been troubling me whenever I hear these words in this context is, \u201cWhat would victory look like?\u201d<\/p>\n

I never supported this war, so to me, we hit defeat the moment the first shots rang. The idea of “victory” in a war situation is elusive to me: We are all losers. We are, all of us \u2013 Americans and Iraqis alike \u2013 worse for the wear. Yet, I keep hearing these terms bandied about, and I would really like to understand \u2013 what would victory look like to those who speak of it? I have asked war supporters this question – none can answer. I have listened to the pundits and politicians – none of them offer a vision for victory. They simply reiterate, vociferously, how we must not give in to defeat.<\/p>\n

What would victory look like? What are our leaders waiting for? Will they know it when they see it?<\/p>\n

After reading the headlines and hearing these calls for victory and sneers about timetables for defeat again this morning, I turned again to the Bible, following a trail through Psalms and Matthew, landing in Isaiah 59, where the unmistakable answer is clear \u2013 God\u2019s definition of \u201cvictory\u201d is \u201cjustice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Not the human construct that equates justice with revenge and retribution. But the unearthly vision that justice is connected to mercy and grace and brings about peace.<\/p>\n

And the definition of defeat? Isaiah 59 tells us that neither victory nor justice will be found as long as \u201ctruth stumbles in the public square.\u201d<\/p>\n

We must not allow our leaders to hide behind powerful words like \u201cvictory\u201d and \u201cdefeat\u201d while truth goes stumbling by.<\/p>\n

What would victory look like? I am afraid that our leaders do not know \u2013 they cannot find their way. \u201cThey do not know the way of peace, and there is no justice in their tracks … Yes, truth is lacking.\u201d (Isaiah 59:8 and 15).<\/p>\n

As many voices, for and against, discuss the veto and its implications for victory, we need someone to be bold enough to bring a different \u201cv\u201d word into the conversation \u2013 \u201cvision.\u201d We need a vision for victory that is built on truth and leads to peace.<\/p>\n


Susan H. Badeau<\/strong> is the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Children’s Commission, a parent of 22 children by birth, foster care, and adoption, a life-long advocate and a Sojourners\/Philadelphia volunteer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the cacophony of words and voices swirling around the president\u2019s veto of the Iraq bill this week, two words stood out to me \u2013 \u201cvictory\u201d and \u201cdefeat.\u201d Opponents of the bill call it a timetable for defeat and urge us to push on for victory. A question that has long been troubling me whenever…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":379,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-war"],"yoast_head":"\nSue Badeau: The Defeat of Victory - God's Politics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sue Badeau: The Defeat of Victory - God's Politics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the cacophony of words and voices swirling around the president\u2019s veto of the Iraq bill this week, two words stood out to me \u2013 \u201cvictory\u201d and \u201cdefeat.\u201d Opponents of the bill call it a timetable for defeat and urge us to push on for victory. A question that has long been troubling me whenever…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"God's Politics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-05-03T09:45:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.sojo.net\/magazine\/archives\/Soj0608\/images\/060812.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gp_intern\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sue Badeau: The Defeat of Victory - God's Politics","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sue Badeau: The Defeat of Victory - God's Politics","og_description":"In the cacophony of words and voices swirling around the president\u2019s veto of the Iraq bill this week, two words stood out to me \u2013 \u201cvictory\u201d and \u201cdefeat.\u201d Opponents of the bill call it a timetable for defeat and urge us to push on for victory. A question that has long been troubling me whenever…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html","og_site_name":"God's Politics","article_published_time":"2007-05-03T09:45:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.sojo.net\/magazine\/archives\/Soj0608\/images\/060812.jpg"}],"author":"gp_intern","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html","name":"Sue Badeau: The Defeat of Victory - God's Politics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.sojo.net\/magazine\/archives\/Soj0608\/images\/060812.jpg","datePublished":"2007-05-03T09:45:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-05-03T09:45:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/cdd0d36f3f2e1667662d6db39e7e2fba"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.sojo.net\/magazine\/archives\/Soj0608\/images\/060812.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.sojo.net\/magazine\/archives\/Soj0608\/images\/060812.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/2007\/05\/sue-badeau-defeat-of-victory.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sue Badeau: The Defeat of Victory"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/","name":"God's Politics","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/cdd0d36f3f2e1667662d6db39e7e2fba","name":"gp_intern","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gp_intern"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/author\/gp_intern"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/379"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godspolitics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}