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Time for Democrats to Unite Susan Estrich Why is it that Republicans are united in their support of an unpopular war and Democrats are divided in their opposition? How is it that, speaking purely politically, the war right now seems to be working better as an issue for Republicans, who are forced to support the unpopular president and his ill-begotten war, than the Democrats, who are free to oppose it? Is it a question of leadership? Of competence? Can the Democrats simply not get their act together? That is certainly how it looked last week in the House, when the relieved Republicans – relieved because they finally had something to come together on and support – turned lemons into lemonade and even won the votes of 42 Democrats in enacting a phony resolution opposing an immediate withdrawal of troops that no one was actually proposing. Coming on the heels of the president's picturesque trip to Iraq, the press played the vote as a show of Republican unity and Democratic disarray on the afternoon of the eve of the midterm elections. This week, the action moves to the Senate, and the Democrats are in the driver's seat – but it's not clear that the outcome is likely to demonstrate much more cohesion. On Monday, after reports of endless meetings and caucuses, the Democratic leadership unveiled a proposed amendment calling for the "phased redeployment" (translate pullout) of U.S. troop beginning in 2006, an administration plan to be submitted by the end of 2006 for the continued redeployment-pullout of troops and a "limited mission" for the troops left behind. The hope was that the wording of the amendment would be broad enough to allow both those who favored a fixed timetable and those who feared one to come together behind a single resolution. Dream on. Why should people who are running against each other for president give up their divisions on the one issue that could dominate if not decide the presidential nominating process two years from now? So take a guess at who is introducing the counter-amendment to the leadership proposal being put forward by Sens. Levin, Reed, Feinstein and Salazar, with the support of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid? Thirty seconds.
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If you guessed that John Kerry and Russ Feingold, both all but declared candidates, would be two out of three – you're right. Hillary Clinton is one of those who opposes a fixed timetable for withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. She was booed last week for saying that at a meeting of the left-leaning Take Back America in Washington. She is also the front-runner in most polls for the Democratic nomination for president. As debate opens in the Senate, CNN has released a new poll showing that some 47 percent of all Americans say they would "definitely not" vote for Hillary Clinton for president. Is that good news for her possible opponents, John Kerry and Al Gore? Not exactly, since the same percent say they would definitely not vote for Kerry, and 48 percent say they would "definitely not" vote for Gore. What it proves, only, is that no one on the Democratic side enjoys broad support among independent voters. Hillary also had the highest affirmative ratings of all those polled, with 22 percent saying they would definitely vote for her. Democratic primary voters do tend to skew liberal, which is why it may be in the interest of her would-be opponents to grandstand their opposition to the war with an amendment of their own. But the grandstanding also comes at the expense of the party, as it faces the midterm election, which is why it is so selfish and shortsighted.
Rather than allow the Democrats to present a united front, the anti-war senators, in their effort to score points, are allowing the Republicans to divide and conquer. There will be plenty of time for presidential politics down the road. This should be the time for Democrats to unite, and focus on the midterm election.
As I said, dream on. COPYRIGHT 2006 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.
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