Given its wording I think Feingold-Reid matches the popular will - fight al-Qaeda, protect Americans, but don't continue to ramp up operations to protect the dismally-functioning (and basically dismal) Iraqi government. According to my reading of the polls, that's clearly where the country is. But it's clearly not where the US Senate is, as only 29 senators backed the proposal. All Democrats running for president supported it. Every Republican in the Senate opposed it - as did over 20 Democrats. And we're not just talking about the Blanche Lincolns, Ken Salazars and the two Nelsons. Some of the big progressive favorites of last year like Jon Tester and Jim Webb voted against it, as did our own Jay Rockefeller and Pennsylvania's Bob Casey. With a vote like this (and the vote on the McGovern amendment last week on which almost 60 Democrats voted with the Republicans) it's clear that it can't be said that the Democratic party is doing what's politically popular regarding this war. But the party's presidential candidates are, and that's likely to be important in 17 months.
Posted by armand at May 16, 2007 12:09 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Iraq | Politics