Back on April 4 I wrote:
“The essence of compromise boils down to five words: “What’s in it for me?”
So with Bush facing a congressional war-funding bill with deadlines attached–benchmarks that he himself mentioned earlier this year, and is now being asked to hew to–congress is hoping that he will compromise on withdrawal dates rather than veto the entire bill.
What’s in it for him to do so?
Nothing.”
And naturally he didn’t compromise. Which, of course, the Democrats should have seen coming (I mean, if I saw it coming, they should have been able to) and one would hope that a Plan B was in effect.
Well, it’s appearing…not so much.
Now it’s the Democrats who need to stay the course. The Democrats who need to dig in and say, “This or nothing.” Unfortunately, they don’t appear ready, willing or able to do that. There is concern that they will be accused of refusing to fund the troops in time of war.
Well…yeah. Obviously that’s going to be the spin. And the spin in response should be “Who’s more concerned about the troops, the Democrats or the White House? Obviously it’s the Democrats.” Unfortunately for the Democrats, the GOP spin machine is simply more efficient, and Bush more intransigent, than the Democratic leadership. They haven’t yet realized, apparently, that they’re dealing with a mindset that’s as uncompromising as any other extremist. You can’t compromise with extremists. Bush understands that because that’s what he himself is. The Democrats are approaching the issue with the mindset of rational people, which is why they’re in trouble.
We can’t announce a pull out date because we’d be giving information to our enemies? Well, maybe, but more relevant is that we’d be giving information to our supposed allies–the Iraqi government–telling them that the whole “they stand up so we can stand down” thing finally has a timeclock. By me, that’s a good thing.
PAD
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