Quote of the Day

With Democrats facing pressure from both sides on the war (from the anti-war voices chiding them for their slow action, to the President threatening to kill any bill that isn't a 100% support for the war), they've got to be feeling pretty stressed out right now.

I personally understand that they're doing the best they can given the mixed political environment-- the inconvenient truth being any bill passed by the House will be killed by Senate Republicans + Connecticut For Liebermans; and even if passed there will be vetoed and we end up back at square one-- but, yea, it's a mess.

Andrew Sullivan says that the Democrats don't deserve that mess and they should let the President have his war and choke on his failure. This mess will never really be sorted out until 2009 anyway, as many are quickly realizing. Says Sullivan on the current situation-

"Micro-managing a war from the Congress is a fool's game. Trying to cut off funds actually helps Bush: it relieves him of the responsibility for the nightmare his incompetence and arrogance have created. The cold truth is: There will be no resolution to this war before the next election, and instead of trying to create one, the Democrats should simply give the president what he wants, expand the broad defense budget to protect the military from being totally broken before the next election, and simply hold Bush accountable for the results. It's his war. Make him own it. If by some miracle, the surge succeeds, then it's good for Iraq and America. And if the Democrats have funded it, they can also take some credit. If it fails, it will be Bush's final, miserable failure.

The current mess merely confuses Bush's responsibility. The Democrats should clarify it, and fund the war fully - entirely as a way to express support for the troops. Then Obama or Clinton or Edwards or Gore can run on a simple program to end it in 2008. And they can argue that any vote for a Republican in Congress will risk a continuation of failure."

As far as political strategy goes, he's spot on. The downside? Leaving the war to Republicans means staying forever. And that's not an outcome they want to be responsible for.

So while I am very sympathetic intellectually to the warning Mr. Sullivan is giving Democrats, my conscience tells me otherwise. Playing politics with this war (and with the actual human beings involved in it) is what the Republicans have spent the last 4+ years doing. Not exactly a model of success that the new majority should follow. But their options are limited.