Leadership Unfollowed, Mission Unaccomplished
It might be time to try something new, like a) leading and b) winning. Politico re Dem Cong’s scratchy record and a new tune being sung by the membership:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, despite their pledges to continue pushing to end the war in Iraq, face growing pressure from their rank-and-file Democrats to focus more attention on domestic, “pocketbook” issues in the upcoming election year.
Junior Democrats describe an “Iraq fatigue” setting in among some members after dozens of successful withdrawal votes failed to drive a wedge between Republicans and President Bush on the war strategy.
The restless Democrats acknowledge the war issue remains critically important for the country, but they would like to see their leaders tone down the rhetoric and avoid showdowns with Bush over the war, wherever possible.
Still, heading into 2008, Democrats have not articulated as clear a game plan on how to handle the political debate on the war as they had heading into 2007.
“My hope would be we start looking at real solutions instead of the dichotomy of cut funding versus stay forever,” said Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.), who had a change of heart this fall after visiting Iraq and realizing the military surge was working.
“The entire policy has been dictated by the ‘Out of Iraq Caucus’ … What are we going to do, have another 40 withdrawal votes?”
Nothing like a pure jolt of common sense. Baird seems to sense that just changing the subject isn’t going to do it. It will require some thinking and action based on the United States’ long-term national interest rather than short-term political whoopie, but when the lame-duck talk fizzled out in the spring, and the dominant year-ender story line is Mission Unaccomplished and Congress took a thumpin’, it may be time to try going long with statesmanship rather than keep punting politics.
Hey … remember when all the “growing pressure” stories were about House and Senate Republicans leaning on Bush?
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 2:22 pm on Friday, December 21, 2007
4 Responses to “Leadership Unfollowed, Mission Unaccomplished”
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December 21st, 2007 at 2:49 pm
That photo of San Fran Nan simply SCREAMS for a caption contest.
“See how much muscle I’ve built up from lifting all that pork!”
“Crushed dissent? You wanna see some real crushing of dissent? Well, watch this!”
“Hey, we surrendered AGAIN, people! Great job!”
December 21st, 2007 at 4:58 pm
“after dozens of successful withdrawal votes failed to drive a wedge between Republicans and President Bush on the war strategy.”
Somehow I missed those successful votes. I thought everyone of them failed. That is some good spin.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Pffft. What a waste of time this Dhim Cong has been. Unless you’re an enemy of the U.S., that is, then you received multiple FREE propaganda points, enough to continue to shoot at American forces (until reality exploded your body, that is).
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:07 am
I like it, Jeff. My entry: “This is where the muscle would be!”