Small Change

I was struggling yesterday to identify what it is about the upcoming "change" election that has me filled with trepidation. It was sparked by the tidbit I caught on the radio about the Iraq Funding Bill. The moderator (ABC News Radio) opened by saying -- "Democrats reach compromise on Iraq war funding bill, no timelines for US troop withdrawals, benchmarks for the Iraqi government, Democratic leadership says this is not a defeat, then a soundbite of Harry Reid saying "we don't have the votes to overturn a veto so its a cinch we won't get what we want, but this is pretty good."

My first thought was, if I was the Democratic strategist, I would have played this differently. Something like this:

"I regretfully inform the American people that we failed you today in the US Congress. We failed to obtain from the Republicans any compromise on ending this pointless and costly war. We failed to place any restrictions on this President's reckless and wanton deployment of our troops. We failed to obtain timetables for their return home. We failed to prevent their tours of duty from being extended. Because this President and the Republican party refuse to concede to reality and instead cling stubbornly to a hopeless strategy, we have failed to carry out the clear will of the American people, to do what they sent us here to do in November.

Now 78% of the American people believe we are on the wrong track in this country and a majority agree that a military solution t this war is no longer possible. To date the surge is not turning the tide, but rather putting even more troops into harms way. Because this President's callous disregard for the will of the electorate and his repeated threat to abuse his veto power and overturn any bill which includes any measure of accountability for his administration and its abysmal war strategy, we are left with no choice. We could prolong this stalemate, but we lack the votes necessary to overturn a veto, because the Republicans in Congress are more concerned with loyalty to their party and their President, then they are with concern for our soldiers or respct for the will of the American people.

We, the Democratic majority in the House and Senate, out of concern for the troops that have been and now will continue to be deployed in Iraq for the foreseeable future, have agreed to put their interests first and extend funding to ensure that they will have the resources necessary. However we strongly object to this President's failed plan, his continued reckless unaccountability and the abuse of his veto power in the face of overwhelming support by the American people to put limits on the duration of our troops occupation of Iraq."

I cannot figure out what is accomplished by spinning an obvious loss as something of a compromise. It just makes the Democrats look weak. I also can't help but notice that whenever the war is called into question, Republicans keep saying, "if you want to end it so bad cut off the funding. Why do you keep funding it?" Acquiescence is tacit approval and that is the way all of the '08 candidates are going to be taken apart. "You were for it before you were against it."

Then this morning I happened to come across this at TomDispatch:

As Andrew Bacevich, author of The New American Militarism, puts it: "None of the Democrats vying to replace President Bush is doing so with the promise of reviving the system of check and balances.... The aim of the party out of power is not to cut the presidency down to size but to seize it, not to reduce the prerogatives of the executive branch but to regain them."

Or as Dave Lindorff puts it:

"Why is the party leadership blocking impeachment? Machivellian self-interest. They don’t care about their oaths of office to uphold and defend the Constitution. All they care about is winning re-election in 2008, and they have come to the conclusion that the Republicans are in such bad shape that by doing nothing or next to nothing but talking a good game from now to November ‘08, they can win, whereas if they take any decisive action, whether halting funding for the war or initiating impeachment hearings, they might hurt themselves."

I think that is a good explanation for why the party of change sounds an awful lot like the party of same ole, same ole. Click here for more.