The votes aren't there.Byline: The Register-Guard The November 2006 election sent an unambiguous signal to Congress and the White House that Americans want a significant change in the conduct of the Iraq war Iraq War: see under Persian Gulf Wars. Iraq War or Second Persian Gulf War Brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S. . Precisely what shape that change should take is at the heart of the showdown between the Democratic majority in Congress and supporters of President Bush's last-ditch effort to salvage the debacle he created in Iraq. Despite legitimate doubts about Bush's leadership and a few high-profile Republican defections, the lame duck An elected official, who is to be followed by another, during the period of time between the election and the date that the successor will fill the post. The term lame duck generally describes one who holds power when that power is certain to end in the near future. president has been able to hang on to enough Republican and conservative Democratic support to sustain vetoes of Democratic efforts to attach troop withdrawal timetables to war funding bills. That's why the Democratic leadership is surrendering its efforts to insert what Republican critics cleverly have labeled "surrender dates" into Iraq war appropriations. But the Democratic retrenchment re·trench·ment n. The cutting away of superfluous tissue. was a foregone conclusion foregone conclusion n. 1. An end or a result regarded as inevitable: The victory was a foregone conclusion. See Usage Note at foregone. 2. before a single vote was cast. The November election produced insufficient Democratic seats in the House and Senate to muster TO MUSTER, mar. law. By this term is understood to collect together and exhibit soldiers and their arms; it also signifies to employ recruits and put their names down in a book to enroll them. the two-thirds majorities needed to override An arrangement whereby commissions are made by sales managers based upon the sales made by their subordinate sales representatives. A term found in an agreement between a real estate agent and a property owner whereby the agent keeps the right to receive a commission for the sale of Bush vetoes if the Republicans held ranks. The slim Senate majority can't even limit debate or overcome procedural hurdles; both require at least 60 votes. Nonetheless, Bush and his Republican supporters clearly have won Round 1. No amount of spin from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can make the bill that is likely to emerge today anything but a capitulation CAPITULATION, war. The treaty which determines the conditions under which a fortified place is abandoned to the commanding officer of the army which besieges it. 2. . The political objective for Democrats became how to limit the perception among voters that Democratic insistence on troop withdrawal in the face of Bush's insurmountable veto constituted willful neglect Noun 1. willful neglect - a tendency to be negligent and uncaring; "he inherited his delinquency from his father"; "his derelictions were not really intended as crimes"; "his adolescent protest consisted of willful neglect of all his responsibilities" of the military's battlefield needs. It wasn't an idle worry. In a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll, 60 percent of respondents opposed any effort to cut off funds for U.S. troops in Iraq and set a March 2008 withdrawal date. Moreover, 52 percent said they believed Democrats should compromise with Bush on the funding bill, and 44 percent blamed Democrats for holding up funds for the troops. Asked to pick one legislative option from among three choices, only 24 percent said they would cut off war funds and set a March 2008 withdrawal; 33 percent said they would fund the war with a specific date to begin troop withdrawal; and 40 percent said they would make funding contingent upon Adj. 1. contingent upon - determined by conditions or circumstances that follow; "arms sales contingent on the approval of congress" contingent on, dependant on, dependant upon, dependent on, dependent upon, depending on, contingent the Iraqi government meeting specific benchmarks. Like their Democratic representatives in Congress, the public is not certain about the best way to proceed in Iraq. But they are not ambivalent am·biv·a·lent adj. Exhibiting or feeling ambivalence. am·biv  a·lent·ly adv.Adj. 1. about the core issue: Six in 10 Americans want Bush to set a specific timetable for troops to be withdrawn, regardless of how secure Iraq is when the withdrawal date arrives. Three out of four Americans believe Bush should set specific benchmarks for the Iraqi government and that future U.S. military aid should be contingent upon those benchmarks being met. The congressional debate over the Iraq war is just getting started, albeit four years and thousands of lives too late. Every defense appropriations bill from this point forward will engage the issue of when, not if, troops should pull out of Iraq. Voters might make Republicans pay a heavy price in the next election for their obstruction of efforts to end the Iraq war. Make no mistake - Bush intends to run out the clock on his bloody legacy and dump it on his successor. Without support from Republicans, the Democrats will be hard pressed to stop him. |
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