As I see it...
A lot are critical of Bush and the handling of the Iraq war. Which is fine, a lot of folks are starting to agree with them as time goes on and the (human, world-political, monetary) costs of the war accumulate. That said...
Terrorism and the anti-americanism that fuels it has to be dealt with. This is rightfully #1 in the public's mind. The democrats, for all of their "this was wrong..." or "This was right, but is being done wrong..." have not said, "... and here is what we should be doing and what we will be doing if I am elected..."
The closest thing you have to this is Wesley Clark saying he wants to rebuild bridges with traditional allies to help fight terrorism. Okay, that is still pretty damn nebulous.
What I would like to hear from a candidate as an alternative to the status quo:
1) Now that we are in Iraq, we have to finish the job. We will stay until a stable government is established. The quickest road to this is through a world-supported effort. As such, we are going to turn over control of reconstruction to the U.N. and will support them as necessary.
2) We are going to continue to use our military and intelligence resoureces to actively engage terrorists and the governments that support them which target the United States. No countries are exempt from this, even those that sell us oil or that have been allies in the past.
3) We will do a better job of filtering intelligence to prioritize where our anti-terrorism resources are directed. We will not tie up our military in campaigns against nations that are not a threat to us, or that are low on the list of countries that are a threat to us in lieu countries that are high on that list.
4) Osama Bin Laden is public enemy #1 again, and will be at the top of that priority list. We are going to hunt the bastard down in whatever country he finds harbor in and bring him to justice.
5) We have got to turn around the underlying anti-americanism that allows terrorist groups to exist and flourish. This is the only way the war against terrorism can truly be won. To demonstrate that we are not what radical islam teaches, we are going to embrace any willing Islamic nations in a partnership of modernization. Such a partnership will entail us providing money and assistance for the upgrading of schools and infrastructure within these countries in return for some guarantees by the government regarding governmental support of terrorism and radical, militant anti-American teachings in the mosques. Part of the deal is that we and the U.N. are allowed entry into the country to oversee the modernization efforts (and to make sure the other side is living up to their end of the bargain).
6) We recognize that there have been mistakes made on both sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, that both sides are culpable for the current context of conflict, and that both sides are going to have to make concessions to achieve a peace. We are going to continue to try and facilitate a lasting peace through cessation of terrorist attacks against Israel and the creation of an autonomous Palestinian state.
But I don't think any of them have the balls/forsight to come up with any kind of alternative.
