Last week I expressed my unhappiness with the sequence of occurrences that led to The Washington Post publishing a front-page article under the headline, "Democrats Back Down On Iraq Timetable". Well it looks like The Post was a bit hasty in its reporting. Take a look at this correction:
A May 3 Page One article about negotiations between President Bush and congressional Democrats over a war spending bill said the Democrats offered the first major concession by dropping their demand that the bill it include a deadline to bring troops home from Iraq. While Democrats are no longer pushing a firm date for troop withdrawals, party leaders did not specifically make that concession during a Wednesday meeting with Bush at the White House.
This concession cuts directly at the heart of The Post piece and undermines the conclusion that the Democrats have already conceded to the Republicans and the White House in the battle over ending the Iraq War. As such, my disagreement with the tactics of the Democratic leadership in Congress over the issue of Iraq last week were unfounded.
At the same time, my concerns are still present. I still think it is extremely important for the Democrats not to be seen as caving in on this issue, both because this is such an important issue on a policy level and because on a political level the Democrats have much to lose from the perception of being weak and not sufficiently fighting for an end to the war in Iraq. This isn't to say that I expect for the Democrats to back down, only that I think it is extremely important that they don't.
|
|
|
Permalink :: 6 Comments :: Post a Comment
|
In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.
If not, you can make an account right here. It's quick and free.
