WASHINGTON - This week'’s Senate debate on Iraq was symbolic--neither of the two competing proposals offered by Democrats had any chance of passing.
Although symbolic, the votes on the two amendments give important indicators that Iraq will be a decisive issue both in Senate races this November and in the presidential race in 2008.
President Bush'’s opponents say he has sunk his presidency in a war that promises no clear victory. But whether it was his intent or not, Bush'’s policy also seems to have succeeded in trapping Democrats in a tormented and apparently endless debate on Iraq.
Perhaps that was why Senate Republican Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky sounded so satisfied when he talked to reporters Tuesday.
GOP happy to see Democrats divided "“We'’re very comfortable with this debate and happy to have it," McConnell said. "“The Democrats are having an interesting debate among themselves....We'’ve enjoyed watching them have this debate."
I love how the mainstream media is regurgitating the GOP talking points on how the Iraq war is bad for the Democrats. The Democrats are having a debate amongst themselves on timetables and troop withdrawals, while the Republicans continue their "stay-the-course" insane policy--rejecting even the possible policy alternatives that could be discovered in an honest and open debate. In the MSNBC story, Senator Joe Biden sums up the debate perfectly. Biden says:
We may have our divisions...there is some disagreement in the Democratic party," but, he said, "“the Republicans are totally united in a failed policy."”
That is the real crux of this story. Iraq is certainly going to be an issue in the 2006 and 2008 elections. The question is, who is engaged in discussing and debating the situation in Iraq? The Republicans in Congress are still willing to follow the "stay-the-course" message of the Bush White House and continue this war through the 2008 elections--whether the situation in Iraq actually improves or not. There is no debate within the Republican Party--you're either with the Republicans and the Bush White House, or you're with the terrorists (and are considered a traitor). Whereas on the Democratic side, you've got the Democratic warhawks of Hillary Clinton, and perhaps Joe Lieberman, fighting against Democrats, such as Joe Murtha, who feel the war in Iraq is already lost and that the U.S. should pull out. While these factions may be fighting against each other within the Democratic Party, they are providing an opportunity for the American public to review and consider options and arguments to resolve this war in Iraq. This opens the country towards a debate that is sorely needed on how to resolve this war in Iraq. Remember, the poll numbers still show a nervously shifting American political electorate:
Bush's approval rating increased by only one point to 37 percent from an April poll taken by The Wall Street Journal and NBC News, when it registered its lowest level since he took power in January 2001. Fifty-eight disapprove of Bush's work as president, up one point from April.
On Zarqawi's death, 53 percent of the 1,002 adults polled between June 9 and 12 said it would improve the situation in Iraq either a lot (16 percent) or a little (37 percent), while 43 percent said it would have no effect at all.
Fifty-three percent said they were less confident of a successful conclusion to the war in Iraq, down four points from April, while 38 percent were more confident, up five points from two months ago.
And another 53 percent believed it was the wrong decision to attack Iraq in the first place in March 2003, against 43 percent who thought the contrary.
On other issues, the poll found that by a 64-23 percent margin, Americans dispprove of the job the US Congress is doing, and that by a 49-38 percent margin most registered voters want the US Congress to change hands -- both houses are currently under Republican control -- in the November elections.
Sixty-one percent of those surveyed thought the United States was headed in the wrong direction, down six points from April, and 27 percent believe it was heading in the right direction, up thee points from April.
There is a lot of uncertainty in this country.
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