As a student of American history and specifically public policy (the actions of a government to address the needs of its people), I can appreciate the Democratic attempt to insert a timetable for withdrawal in the Iraq war spending bill. In fact, I completely agree with those among the Democrats who say that passing this bill was what they were sent to Congress to do. They’ve done their jobs and served their country valiantly in a very tough situation.
But now that the message is sent and the bill has been vetoed, it’s time to pass a new bill without a timetable that funds this war as soon as possible. Speaker Pelosi’s Congress has sent a strong and clear message to the American people and the President of the United States. Yet, as President Bush said today: “They’ve sent their message, and now it’s time to put politics behind us and support our troops with the funds.”
The clear and present truth of this situation is that even after passing a second bill without a timetable, the Democrats have won this political battle. And remember, I’m a guy who is so traditional in his politics and views that I think the Republicans are too liberal at times! So I’m certainly not a guy who goes around congratulating Democrats!
But as any student of public policy who also studies ethics and morality will tell you, now that the message has been sent to President Bush, this Congress has an obligation to fund the Iraq spending bill. Of course, they shouldn’t load it with military pork (or generic pork for that matter), but now that they’ve won the battle they can help their cause to win the greater war for the American political system by funding this war today.
Score a point for the Democrats with this one, but I suspect the Republicans will come on very strong once Rudy Giuliani starts to really hit that campaign trail and rallying support.
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