In the past few days - the media has been reporting with some
amazement that the public has a high interest in this upcoming
presidential election. Why do you think that is?
Well, the last time I checked - 2006 was as clear a mandate as the
Democrats could ever hope to receive. The American public has made
its voice clear both in the election booth and at the polls. They
want us out of Iraq - NOW. They want to change course on foreign
affairs - immediately. They do not accept the fact that the Bush
administration created what we now know (and frankly knew then) was a
fictitious argument to launch an unprovoked war on Iraq.
While Congress may not be able to see the forest for the trees,
voters can. We are able to remember Colin Powell standing in front
of the UN with 'evidence'. We remember "mission accomplished." We
understand that Scooter Libby was doing the administrations bidding
when he 'outed' an undercover CIA agent. We remember that the Bush
administration created a program of secretly wire-taps on law abiding
American's. We remember that his troops conducted atrocities at Abu
Ghraib, and then had the good graces to photograph those abominations
and shared the pictures with the world. The list goes on - from the
rape and torture of the civilians we were supposedly 'liberating' to
the extraordinary hubris to force John Bolton on the UN.
We remember.
But it seems that Congress does not. Perhaps they should read the
newspaper. Todays paper would be a good place to start. The cover
of the New York Times reports that Federal
Prosecutors who weren't willing to do the Administration bidding have been finding themselves unemployed. This would be shocking -
if the phrase 'Great Job Brownie" weren't already part of the
vernacular. Or we didn't remember Harriet Miers nomination to the
Supreme Court.
We remember.
Nicolai Ouroussoff's piece on
Defensive Architecture reminds us that the impact that the Bush
Administration has had won't be erased once they've been evicted from
The White House. Already the effect has been indelibly etched in
the streets and the structures of our cities. Ouroussoff's reports
on nifty ways that architects are hiding bomb barriers and concrete
reinforcements - ending by saying; "Our streets may be prettier, but
the prettiness is camouflage for the budding reality of a society
ruled by fear."
Society ruled by fear. Wow.
So, if the Democratic congress, or the Democratic Senate read
todays paper, maybe they'll figure out what we've been trying to
tell them.
We remember, and we don't like the direction the Country is going
in. And we voted for them so that they would be leaders - and with
our clear mandate... act.
Now to be fair, we understand that this is complex. We know that
getting our troops out of Iraq won't solve the broader and more
complex issues facing us in the world. But it would be a start.
And while the House has practically broken it's institutional arm
patting itself on the back for the non-binding resolution - the
reality is that American's are expecting more than lame proclamations
from the Hill. Simply running the clock until the Bush's are
evicted doesn't count as leadership - and expecting the next
President to be able to do what the House and Senate can't isn't
realistic or likely. Political will needs to be exercised, rather
than simply pantomimed. Watching Hillary Clinton embroider complex
stories in order to avoid being tagged a 'flip flopper' is painful
and heartbreaking. She was wrong to vote for the war. She knew it
then, but with a Senate race ahead of her she did what many
Democrats did - she supported the President. But that was then.
But even then, Bush's motives were transparent. With the wind of
9/11 at his back, he took every opportunity to create an imperial
Presidency and shift the power of the Military, The Courts, and the
Executive Branch into a monolithic power machine. Anyone who
challenged him or his neo-con henchmen were dealt with swifty and
with the full force of the White House. She had reason to fear
reprisals - and acknowledging that her vote was a mistake would
hardly be seen as change in position.
We remember.
Which brings me to the endless banging drum that ending funding of
Iraq would be equal to not supporting our troops. This perhaps the
most disturbing hogwash that has been delivered via the media time
and time again. It simply makes no sense. It's hardly like cutting
off your kids credit card mid-way into a cross country car trip. If
congress ends it's cowardly ways, and acts with the mandate and
mission that the electorate provided it - it will set a date by which
funding will end for troops in Iraq. That date won't be tomorrow,
or the day after. There will be plenty of money for return airfare
for each and every service man and woman. We won't leave them
stranded in a war zone without a return ticket. But Congress CAN
act, can set a date at which funding will end, and military
leadership can begin to deploy funds that remain to plan for an
orderly transition.
The idea that an endless stream of dollars 'supports' our troops is
nonsense.
And if the Democrats in Congress think that American voters will
reward them by putting a Democrat in the White House after two years
of inaction and empty non-binding resolutions, they're about to face
a very angry electorate.
It's time for Congress to earn our trust, and act.
We remember.