Dems on Iraq: More Pressure Needed
Posted on Sat Mar 10, 2007 at 07:48:57 AM EST
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From the NYTimes:
Over the next few weeks, the new Democratic Congressional majority will try to translate public discontent with the war in Iraq into actual policy, with a series of votes on the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq — the party’s most consequential votes yet. But the Democrats face some extraordinary political and institutional hurdles, which explain why Congress wades so reluctantly — and at times so achingly incrementally — into matters of war, veteran lawmakers say.
Extraordinary political and institutional hurdles? Balderdash. Leadership is all that is required. Getting out of Iraq is an EASY political call. Too many in the activist base (see Move On) and in the blogs (see the A List Left Blogs) think that we should "take it easy" on thye Dem leadership because "the GOP is worse" as if that is the question.
The question my friends is what is going to HELP the Dem Leadership get us out of Iraq. Letting the Blue Dogs be the only source of pressure, insisting on being the Kumbaya Caucus is to sit the battle out. We would do Pelosi and Reid no favors if we did that. They need to feel pressure from us so they can resist the pressure from the Blue Dogs.
Many lawmakers are deeply reluctant to use the power of the purse; Democratic leaders repeatedly promised they would not cut off funds for the troops during last year’s Congressional campaign. “It’s a high-risk thing,” said Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts.
We need to make it a high risk thing NOT to defund the Iraq Debacle.
In general, many lawmakers say the tools available to Congress on the war are very blunt instruments. Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon, a Republican moderate and a critic of the war, said lawmakers who disagreed with the president could find themselves in a “terrible quandary.” He added, “Congress is an institution incapable of playing commander in chief, and the Democrats are proving that.”
Gordon Smith is proving himself to be a two faced coward. Not surprising.
We we need to do is make him pay for it in 2008, by taking his seat.
A little steel, a little resolve, a little leadership. That's what Dems need. That's what we need. So far the Dems and the Blogs have been lacking in all these things.
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