It looks like the Democrats aren't going to wait for any pronouncement by James Baker or his coterie before laying out their ideas on how to move forward in Iraq.

Democrats, who won majorities in the U.S. Congress in last week's elections, said on Sunday they will push for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq to begin in four to six months.

"The first order of business is to change the direction of Iraq policy," said Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is expected to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress.

Levin, on ABC's "This Week," said he hoped some Republicans would emerge to join Democrats and press the administration of President George W. Bush to tell the Iraqi government that U.S. presence was "not open-ended."

While I think it would be in the Democrats' best interest to take an even more aggressive stance towards Iraq -- the American people are clearly still ahead of politicians on the issue, with a plurality and perhaps a majority of Americans supporting a timetable to withdraw all American troops within a year -- I like this bold step by Senator Levin and the Democrats. Instead of waiting for the Iraq Study Group -- an unelected group of former bureaucrats -- to come back and provide the Bush administration cover for making changes in strategy (whether the White House ends up doing so or not), the Democrats are clearly paying heed to the American people in calling for a beginning to the redeployment of American forces. And while the Democrats will likely be upbraided by the White House and its allies in the conservative media and Congress for pursuing a policy of "cut and run", Democrats should rest well knowing that they have the support of the American people in trying to bring change to America's policy towards Iraq.