Why do the pundits keep ignoring the fact that the democratic congress CAN NOT stop bush's war or the escalation of that war. Chris Matthews in particular, who I admit is finally asking tough questions of republican guests too, says consistently that the democrats will ignore Iraq out of political expedience and fail to provide leadership and policy alternative on the issue. They want to leave the mess in the president's hands instead of taking a political risk and doing "what the american people expect". This, to me, seems obviously false for several reasons.
- The president has full control of the defense department and military. If we presume that the war itself was approved by congress, then he can deploy troops in Iraq as he sees fit.
- The defense budget for the coming year has already been passed. To withdraw the funding already approved under the republican congress would require passing new legislation which would either fail in the senate or be vetoed by the president.
- Even if the congress used the "power of the purse" to oppose supplemental funding requests by the administraion, there's no real way to stop the defense department from reallocating funds from other programs. Or at least I believe that to be the case. Someone more knowledgable about federal budget rules may want to correct me. But I doubt they would feel constrained by any such rules in any case.
- I presume that Bush would do what he wants, i.e. continue and escalate the war, even in the face of bi-partisan congressional resistance. He can't be constrained because he has no respect for the constitution, the rule of law or the American people. He obviously doesn't care about the lives of the troops and would send them even without funding to fully support them. In that case, who could in good conscience let the soldiers in Iraq pay the price by actually refusing to appropriate money they need?
The only person who I've seen make some or all of these points so far is Carl Levin in an interview that I think was on CNN with Wolf Blitzer (another asshole, but that's beside the point). The only thing we can do, which they will do, is start rigorous investigation and oversight. And also pass some constructive legislation hopefully. This is yet another example of what I feel is Democrats being unable to articulate a valid and correct position on policy issues. Its not hard. Just tell the truth and answer questions completely and logically. PLEASE.
OK, venting complete. Now everyone please tell me why I'm wrong.