Democratic Party Now Accountable In the War

The Democrats now have the Congressional power that they sought, and they don’t know what to do with it. While operating within the security of the minority party, Democratic Party leaders were safe to snipe at the President about the conduct of the war on Islamo-fascism for their own political purposes. The Democratic Party is now faced with the dilemma of making substantive decisions for which they will be held accountable. They control the purse strings, and they can no longer just sit back and oppose everything that Pres. George W. Bush proposes relative to conducting the war with Islamo-fascism. Either they support the President’s efforts or they don’t.

The Democratic Party’s first big muscle flexing is the proposed symbolic vote in opposition to sending more troops to Iraq.

Democratic leaders said Tuesday that they intended to hold symbolic votes in the House and Senate on President Bush’s plan to send more troops to Baghdad, forcing Republicans to take a stand on the proposal and seeking to isolate the president politically over his handling of the war.

The resolutions would represent the most significant reconsideration of Congressional support for the war since it began, and mark the first big clash between the White House and Congress since the November election, which put the Senate and House under the control of the Democrats. The decision to pursue a confrontation with the White House was a turning point for Democrats, who have struggled with how to take on Mr. Bush’s war policy without being perceived as undermining the military or risking criticism as defeatists.

That’s a real problem for the Democrats because they are undermining the military, and they are defeatists. You can’t make a silk purse out of a Democratic sow’s ear.