..the [Democratic] party has dedicated itself to a raft of legislative changes over its first 100 hours in power. Among other things, the Democrats will raise the minimum wage, cut interest on student loans and bring in stricter laws on lobbying - all modest, manageable, sensible and centrist. But none of them deals with the key question of the day and the principal reason why they were elected - the war.
There are two reasons for this. First, the Democrats have no coherent position on the war. In fact, most of them voted for it. Second, given that the president is the commander-in-chief and conducts foreign policy, there is a limit to what the Democrats can constitutionally do about it, beyond refusing to fund it. This would represent great political risk, making Democrats vulnerable to the Republican charge that they are putting American soldiers at risk for partisan reasons. Such a stance would demand both principle and determination - neither of which has proven to be their strong suit.
...if the Democratic Congress is unwilling to use any means at its disposal to fulfil its democratic mandate, then it will be left to the public to make their displeasure known. It is two years and tens of thousands of lives, some of them American, before the next presidential election. The American people clearly don't want this. A CBS poll last month showed that 18% wanted to see an increase in troop levels compared with 59% who want them either decreased or withdrawn completely. The question is: what are they going to do about it?The tragic answer is probably nothing.
Read it all here.
3 comments:
The tragic answer, indeed.
Predictable and just what I've been saying since before the mid-term election...
To the Streets, people!! To the streets!
It's sad, but true. One of my worst fears is that the democrats will gain "power" in this mid-term election, but will really have no power to affect change and by the time we have another election the "American people" will be disillusioned with the democrats and elect another republican president. Our society has such a short term memory and such limited understanding of what really happens in our political system. I fear that we will have 2 years of disappointments as the democrats are stalled at every juncture and somehow they will get blaimed for it.
But, I must have hope. I have to continue to believe that it will all be ok in the end. Maybe the leaders in the democratic party really are committed to partnership, not partisianship and they will find a way to work with the republicans and make progress. Maybe, just maybe.
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