This diary is about the war (or occuaption, if you prefer) in Iraq. Bush is President and Congress has capaitulated for now. But it's not over.
In the debate last week, John Edwards called out Senators Clinton and Obama for failing to provide leadership in the efforts to end the war. Moveon's Eli Pariser also has noticed this lack of leadership by Senators Clinton and Obama:
"The thing we're missing from Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama is aggressive leadership to end the war," Pariser said. "They're voting to end the war, but they aren't working every day to bring the rest of their colleagues along."
Ben Smith
Much more after the fold.
In the recent debate, John Edwards called out Senators Obama and Clinton for failing to lead on the capitulation vote. John Edwards said that Congress should have sent the same bill back. Edwards said that Senator Dodd spoke out clearly, but that Senators Obama and Clinton went quietly to the floor of the Senate and cast their vote. They voted the right way, but they did not lead.
While some members of Congress spoke out "loudly and clearly" last month against legislation to pay for the war through September but without a withdrawal timetable, "others did not," Edwards said.
They went quietly to the floor of the Senate, cast the right vote. But there is a difference between leadership and legislating," Edwards told his rivals during the second Democratic debate.
Both Clinton and Obama voted against the bill — which passed — but without making a strong case against the legislation.
"I think it’s obvious who I’m talking about," Edwards said.
MSNBC
This failure to lead continues a long pattern.
Let's go back to January and take a brief look. Bush rejected the advice of the Iraq Study Group and chose to escalate the war. Teddy Kennedy proposed a bill to defund any escaltion. Stop it before it starts. John Edwards supported the Kennedy bill immediately. Senators Obama and Clinton never took a position, to my knowledge. That's not leadership.
Jan 9, 2007
Calls on Congress to Block Funds for War Escalation
"George Bush's expected decision to adopt the McCain Doctrine and escalate the war in Iraq is a grave mistake.
"The new Congress must intercede to stop Bush from stubbornly sticking to the same failed course in Iraq and refuse to authorize funding for an escalation of troops. They should make it clear to the President that he will not get any money to put more of our troops in harm's way until he provides a plan to turn responsibility of Iraq over to the Iraqi people and to ultimately leave Iraq. George Bush wants to dig a deeper hole, but we need to climb out.
"The situation in Iraq demands a political solution — the Iraqi people must take responsibility for their country. Escalating the war in Iraq, which our own generals agree won't help, sends the wrong message to the Iraqi people, to the region, and the world. In order to get the Iraqis to take responsibility for their country, we must show them that we are serious about leaving, and the best way to do that is to actually start leaving and immediately withdraw 40–50,000 troops. Once the U.S. starts leaving, the Iraqi people and other regional powers will be forced to step up and engage in the search for a political solution that can bring an end to sectarian violence and allow reconstruction to take hold, creating — as should have been done long ago — Iraqi jobs for Iraqis."
http://www.johnedwards.com/...
And in mid-January, John Edwards made a stirring call to action in his MLK Day speech at Riverside Church:
Forty years ago, almost to the month, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood at this pulpit, in this house of God, and with the full force of his conscience, his principles and his love of peace, denounced the war in Vietnam, calling it a tragedy that threatened to drag our nation down to dust.
As he put it then, there comes a time when silence is a betrayal -- not only of one's personal convictions, or even of one's country alone, but also of our deeper obligations to one another and to the brotherhood of man.
Edwards echoes MLK at Riverside Church
Video of the Speech Here
John Edwards used his campaign funds to run a full page ad urging support for the Kennedy Bill in January to defund the escaltion:
Jan 23, 2007
Chapel Hill, North Carolina –
The ad will include the names of thousands of Americans who have signed Edwards’ petition demanding that Congress block funds for an escalation of troops in Iraq. Over 80,000 Americans from across the country have joined Edwards in speaking out and urging Congress to use its power of the purse to stop the President from escalating the war, as it has in the past, including in Vietnam, Lebanon, Nicaragua and Colombia.
Roll Call Ad
Virtual silence on defunding from Obama and Clinton. And the escalation happened.
I'm not goiing to run you through the whole year. I will hit a few high (or low, depending on how you see it) points.
In March, Senators Clinton and Obama voted FOR the Republican Gregg Resolution that said Congress would not cut the funding. Here's what Senator Feingold called that bill:
My chief objection is simple -- the resolution rejects the idea of Congress using its power of the purse to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq. Moreover, it does so in a manner that can only be described as inaccurate and almost intellectually dishonest.
Senator Feingold speech in Senate
Let's move to May. John Edwards uses his campaign funds to run the We the People ads telling Congress to send the bill back:
John Edwards soon afterward announced the Support the Troops, End the War action for Memorial Day Weekend:
This Memorial Day weekend, we will all take responsibility for the country we love and the men and women who protect it. We will volunteer, we will pray, and we will speak out. Each of us has a responsibility to act, a duty to our troops and to each other. Support the troops. End the war.
Senator Obama was searching for 16 Republicans to overturn the veto about this time. I don't think he ever found them.
When the capitulation vote came John Edwards was clear on his position (so was Senator Dodd):
"We need to stand our ground against this president. You cannot negotiate with him. Congress should send him the same bill back to him again and again until he realizes he has no choice but to start bringing our troops home. The funding power is the only way Congress can force Bush to end the war. So I am concerned to hear reports that Congress is preparing to concede to the president in the face of his strong-arming. If Congress gives him yet another blank check to fund the war, we're going to get what we've gotten every time before - yet another year of war."
John Edwards Criticizes Blank Check on War
No one knew how Senators Obama and Clinton would vote until their actual vote, which both postoned until most other Senators had voted and the outcome was clear.
Both Clinton and Obama voted against the bill — which passed — but without making a strong case against the legislation.
MSNBC.COM
And when the vote failed and the capitulators prevailed, John Edwards spoke out clearly and forcefully:
"Washington failed America today when Congress surrendered to the president's demand for another blank check that prolongs the war in Iraq. It is time for this war to end.
"Congress should immediately use its funding power to cap troop levels in Iraq at 100,000, stop the ongoing surge, and force an immediate drawdown of 40-50,000 troops, followed by a complete withdrawal in about a year.
"The American people's call for a new course in Iraq was not answered today, but Congress still has the power to end this war. Our security and democracy alike demand it."
John Edwards: "Washington failed America today"
John Edwards has not stopped pushing to end the war. Just yesterday in Iowa, he said:
Pressed on his views about congressional action to continue funding the war, Edwards accused Congress of knuckling under to President Bush.
‘‘They should have never have capitulated to this president,’’ Edwards said of congressional Democrats.
Times-Republic
In April before the California Democratic Party Convention, John Edwards said this:
"I was wrong to vote for this war. I should never have voted for this war," he said to thunderous applause. "I want you to know that I am speaking out with every fiber of my being to get America out of Iraq. We need to be leaving Iraq and we ought to start today, not two months from now, not three months from now."
He has made ending the war an integral part of his campaign. Leadership means mobilizing public support. He's doing it. We need John Edwards to continue to lead our struggle against the Iraq war. The capitulation is just one loss in a long struggle to support the troops by ending the war. We are not giving up to the capitulators and I know John Edwards will not give up.
I have to agree with Eli Pariser on this:
"The thing we're missing from Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama is aggressive leadership to end the war," Pariser said. "They're voting to end the war, but they aren't working every day to bring the rest of their colleagues along."
Ben Smith
We are seeing leadership from John Edwards. That's the Edwards Difference.
Keep on the pressure to end this war.