Obama: Congress will fund Iraq war if Bush uses veto

I found an interesting post on the Democratic strategy regarding the Iraq war funding at Mahablog. Mahablog cites a USA Today story, regarding Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama's comment on Congress breaking down and passing a supplemental war funding bill:

From USA Today:

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — If President Bush vetoes an Iraq war spending bill as promised, Congress quickly will provide the money without the withdrawal timeline the White House objects to because no lawmaker "wants to play chicken with our troops," Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday.

"My expectation is that we will continue to try to ratchet up the pressure on the president to change course," the Democratic presidential candidate said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't think that we will see a majority of the Senate vote to cut off funding at this stage."

Obama has made his opposition to the war a centerpiece of his campaign and has used it to differentiate himself from rival Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

[....]

Given that Bush is determined to veto a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, Congress has little realistic choice but to approve money for the war, Obama said.

"I think that nobody wants to play chicken with our troops on the ground," said Obama. "I do think a majority of the Senate has now expressed the belief that we need to change course in Iraq.

"Obviously we're constrained by the fact that a commander in chief who also has veto power has the option of ignoring that position," Obama said.

The Senate last week approved a bill providing $123 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would order Bush to begin withdrawing troops within 120 days of passage while setting a non-binding goal of ending combat operations by March 31, 2008.

Obama, if you want the Democrats to lose the 2008 elections for both control of Congress, and the White House, then making such an asinine comment as to claiming that Congress has no choice but to fund the war is the perfect strategy for a Democratic defeat. What you have just said here is that the Democrats should just cave in to the Bush veto, and give the president the money he wants for continuing this war--without the timetable. This is unacceptable! What you are proposing is that the Democrats should continue playing rubber-stamp to this Bush White House here. That is a strategy for defeat.

Obama, why don't you look at the public opinion polls regarding Iraq. Here is a March 13, 2007 CNN Poll showing 60 percent of Americans wanting to see U.S. troops pulling out, either immediately or within a year. Here is a March 26, 2007 Pew Research poll showing 59 percent of the American public supporting a bill withdrawing American forces by August 2008. Here is a February 25, 2007 Washington Post/ABC News poll showing 56 percent of Americans favoring a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Here is a March 31, 2007 Newsweek poll showing 57 percent of Americans favoring a withdrawal from Iraq. And finally, you can go to The Polling Report and view a number of other poll results showing that the American public favors a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Obama, you do not break down and play chicken here against the Bush veto on Iraq--that is what the Republican Party, and the Bush White House want you to do! Consider this from The Washington Post:

Backed by a unified party and fresh from a slew of legislative victories, Democratic leaders appear to believe there is hardly any territory they cannot stray onto, a development that has Republican political operatives gleeful and some Democrats worried. Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, warned of a "political price" at the polls: "If they let their constituents and their ideology drive them past the point where the American people are comfortable, they will find how quickly the voters will react."

[....]

Most Republicans are convinced the president will win his veto standoff over House and Senate war spending bills that would impose mandatory troop withdrawals from Iraq.

"It's going to be like the government shutdowns" of 1995 and 1996, predicted Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). "The Democrats' honeymoon is fixing to end. It's going to explode like an IED."

What you have to remember here Obama, is that the Republicans are scared of what the polling data is currently showing--Americans want out of Iraq within a year. What you are seeing here is GOP spin, trying to force the Democrats to admit defeatism on Iraq--Cole's supposed warning that the Democrats will pay a political price with the public opinion polls, or Kingston's comparison of the Iraq showdown with the budget conflicts between House Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Bill Clinton in 1995 and 1006. Or even worst, President Bush's own remarks, saying that Congress will be to blame for his veto on the troop funding bill. The Republicans want the Democrats to think this way. That is the only way the Republicans can win in this debate. Obama, instead of saying that Congress should cave in to the president's demands, you should be demanding that the Bush White House be accountable for this Iraq war. We'll give you the money, but there had better be measurable benchmarks showing progress in the Iraq war within a year--otherwise we pull the troops out! If President Bush vetoes this current war funding bill, then you pass another war funding bill with another withdrawal timetable. Remember, the Democrats have got the support of the American people behind these troop withdrawal bills, as you can see by the polls. In this game of chicken, you don't blink--you force the Bush White House to blink.

That is how you can win in 2008.

According to Crooks and Liars, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), have introduced a bill requiring the President to redeploy U.S. troops from Iraq 120 days from enactment, while also ending funding for the war after March 31, 2008. This is huge. The Democrats are basically saying to the Bush White House, if you veto the withdrawal timetable in the emergency funding bill, then we're going to cut the Iraq war funding all together. The days of blank checks are over.

The troops are coming home in late 2008, or early 2009.