The fantastic turnaround that's happened this month is: if the Iraq war continues with only the slight surge that's happening now, it'll be a plain victory for our party and our country.
Just 2 months ago, it looked like we'd have to cut off funds or even impeach the president to end the war and begin a safe, sane policy in the Middle East. Now it turns out we don't have to impeach or even end the war. Bush is acting so crazy that just keeping roughly the number of troops we have now is a victory for our side. And thanks to crazy George, we've even gotten the Republicans to cooperate - with no troop-hating funding cutoff and no failed, "BJ-gate payback" impeachment effort, which we'd only regret come 2008. Man, did we outsmart them or what?
This week's non-binding resolutions are only the beginning of our victory. We just have to figure out what to do with bills like HR 508 - a plan to actually rescue the troops and end the war.
Times change. "Stay the course" looked horrible here when W. was selling it last quarter. Now that he's selling escalation a troop surge, Stay the Course is available and seems saner - though obviously we can't use the old Republican brand name. Most Democrats are marketing it (including Senators Carl Levin and Chris Dodd) - and it's selling, in Congress. W. made it easy. Binding or non-binding, we're going to make it clear we oppose this war before we approve funding for it, and with bipartisan support.
This time we tell the president: we're not giving you those hundreds of billions of additional dollars unless you promise, in public, that you're going to succeed: decrease sectarian violence, force Iraqis to "step up" to their own security, and ideally, win the war.
And if within the next two years any of those promises have been broken, then when it comes time to approve the next 100 billion, we're going to investigate, criticize, and scold him even more boldly than we did this time.
Though obviously, only a traitor to our troops would cut off funding. Arlen Specter is more likely to raise it than our party leaders. They have forged overwhelming bipartisan consensus that funding cuts are "off the table." Our House Speaker says so.
And thanks to a Democratic Congress, we'll also have 24/7 investigations for the next two years, monitoring when the president endangers the country or breaks the law, though obviously impeaching, prosecuting, or even officially scolding the president through censure would be a partisan trap. Again, it's bipartisan wisdom to keep all that "off the table."
So not only do we look cooperative and heartland centrist - come 2008, when Iraq is an even deadlier clusterfuck, Bush and McCain will still get blamed and we'll get the Congress and the White House.
By 2008, it's maybe 2000 or 5000 more US troops dead - hopefully not 10,000 in some Green Zone Tet Offensive - and maybe 200,000 or a half a million more Iraqis. Just keep sight of the big picture: "Winning both elected branches: priceless." This is a partisan blog, not a peace blog or a hippie blog.
Both parties agree: for the next two years anyway, a safe, sane Middle East policy is optional.
Hey - it's not like George W. Bush could do irrevocable harm to the country, the Middle East, or the planet over just the next year or two.
We've just got to do our part till then.
Whatever you do, don't demand that your Congressperson and Senators support and cosponsor HR 508, the plan to use the most recent 100 billion to bring the troops home safely, by Reps Lynn Woolsey, Maxine Waters, and Barbara Lee. These women are too much - as if with our help, they're going to challenge White House policy and rescue the troops from the lethal quagmire they're in, disobeying the Commander's wishes! Who do they think they are, Ripley in Aliens? Though Congresswoman Woolsey herself introduced the bill here to great enthusiasm, don't forget the rules here: ignore that bill, like Kos.
And continue to treat folks like Cindy Sheehan, the Out of Iraq Caucus and Black Caucus, President Carter, Noam Chomsky, Dennis Kucinich, Michael Moore, Harry Belafonte and the other heirs to Dr King, journalists like Amy Goodman, and all those midwesterners and movie stars at last month's giant peace demonstration - treat them as though they don't exist, they endorse terrorists, or ideally that they endorse what Democratic leadership is doing now. Follow the policy.
2008 is just around the corner. I smell victory.