the democrats' decision to cave in on imposing any withdrawal conditions for funding the iraq war is disappointing, but not all that unexpected. caving in to republicans is one of those things that the democrats do rather well. someday maybe that will change, i guess we haven't quite reached that day yet.
the sad thing is that it was the democrats, not the president, who held the ultimate trump card. if they held the line and kept sending spending bills to the president that contained some kind of withdrawal provision, then the president could veto them one by one. but if no bill were ever signed, the funding would run out and the troops would have to withdrawal. this wasn't the text book standoff where the two parties faced each other, waiting to see who blinked first. in this case the democrats would win either if the president blinked first or if no one ever blinked. so all they had to do was to pry their eyes wide and wait.
but instead they blinked anyway.
congressional democrats "have pledged to renew their fight this summer by seeking to attach timetables to subsequent war financing measures." but next time it's going to be a lot harder to hold the line. the first time they threaten to impose financing limits, the president doesn't know for sure whether the new democratic congress will push all the way or give in. the second time, he will know. and so he will have even less incentive to give any sort of concession along the way. he won't have to. history will tell him if he just vetoes a bill and talks tough after that, the democrats will fall into line. next time around the dems will still have that ultimate trump card, but it will be even harder to maintain party discipline to use it. they've simply blown the best chance they are likely to have.
