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The Democrats have finally decided to commit to a plan for Iraq. The only problem is that their committal is nothing along the lines of a plan. Rather the Dems have decided that they will commit to passing legislation that officially records their opposition to President Bush’s plan.

WASHINGTON - Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged the support of House Democrats Thursday for legislation declaring that President Bush’s decision to send additional troops to Iraq is “not in the national interest of the United States.”

Pelosi’s commitment came as Senate Democrats said they intend to begin advancing a nonbinding measure next week that criticizes the White House’s new strategy. - Associated Press

Funny, I would have expected the Democrats new way forward to be something along the lines of, hmmm.., well.., I don’t know, what is is the phrase I’m looking for?… Oh yeah, … a new way forward!

One has to wonder how a majority party can hold all the marbles and still not manage to move past the same tired opposition they have been running ever since the war started. The new mantra is that the Dems hands are tied, they can’t do anything to prevent a lame duck President from increasing troop levels in Iraq.

So instead of doing anything constructive like propose an alternative plan to help win the war the Democrats are going to undermine the war effort by passing a non-binding resolution that essentially states their non-support for any plan that could possibly change the course of the war in a positive manner.

At a news conference, Pelosi read those words aloud approvingly, and said, “That resolution will be supported by Democrats in the House.”

At the same time, Pelosi offered no indication that Congress will be able to prevent Bush from carrying out his plan.

She did not directly address the issue when asked, and Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the House majority leader, said, “As a practical matter, we know that the president has the constitutional authority … to increase the troops.”

What would this story be without a maverick Republican or two joining ranks with the Democrats. The laughable thing about the childish attempts by the press to conjure up a break in Republican ranks is that the the AP is talking about none other than serial defectors Olympia Snow and Chuck Hagel. This “news” is the equivalent of reporting that it gets dark at night.

The Democrats are doing a great job of proving that their critics are correct. They don’t appear to want to win the war as much as they want to have a convenient election year issue. The only problem is that the Democrat issue comes at the expense of American lives and weakens the country on countless levels.

It appears that this message is starting to resonate in some polls. The latest Fox opinion poll shows that 48% of those polled indicated that they thought the Democrats want the Bush administration to fail in Iraq and only 32% think they want to win. 38% of all self identified Democrats was included the overall 48%. (h/t Hot Air)

Perhaps the Democrats will stop stamping their feet long enough to do something meaningful with their time. We need a leader to emerge from somewhere. I don’t care if it is a Democrat or a Republican but somebody needs to kick Congress in the seat of the pants and get them to work toward a solution rather than using the war for a convenient talking point. Until then we are just going to have to get used to the angry pressers, frantic finger pointing and a lot of hot air.

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