Craig Crawford's 1600: See You in September
By Craig Crawford
Next month’s showdown with Congress over Iraq looms as George W. Bush’s last corral for maintaining the war agenda that is destined to be his legacy. Despite a lot of shaky nerves in Congress among his fellow Republicans, do not bet against the president once again outwitting a Democratic leadership determined to reverse the administration’s prosecution of the war.
Even though polls show that most Americans dislike Bush’s handling of Iraq, his political allies insist the public will not back anything that smacks of a congressional takeover of the situation. “They are not going to stand for a diminution of the commander in chief’s war powers without a viable alternative,” said Mary Matalin, a former senior White House adviser.
Still, the congressional Democratic majority is betting that the number of Republican defections will increase significantly in September, when this year’s fifth wave of votes aimed at forcing a troop withdrawal will occur.
Look for the White House and its allies on Capitol Hill to blunt the next Democratic effort by declaring that the U.S. is winning the war and that the surge in troops is making a difference.
That argument could be well served by the very event that Democrats had expected to be the turning point toward their anti-war point of view: a progress report from the military man running things in Iraq. Democrats once thought that Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who is widely respected by both parties for his expertise and candor, would come forth in September with a bleak assessment of the situation on the ground and that his pessimism would justify a meltdown of GOP support for Bush’s course in Iraq. But a different story is now emerging from the Petraeus camp, suggesting instead that he will report that the surge is working well enough to keep it going. And he is expected to conclude forcefully that withdrawal would only lead to bigger problems for both the United States and Iraq.
Encouraged by such previews of the Petraeus report, the White House is tapping sympathetic senators, including Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Independent Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, for what amounts to a full-scale political campaign to thwart the next drive against the war in the Senate, where the balance of power in the debate resides.
Even in the House, where a majority is clearly against the war, plenty of Republicans from conservative districts are still willing to go to bat against a withdrawal plan. “There are actually a few Republicans left who can explain and defend the policy — and, as importantly, the consequences of defeat,” Matalin said.
(Continued here.)
Next month’s showdown with Congress over Iraq looms as George W. Bush’s last corral for maintaining the war agenda that is destined to be his legacy. Despite a lot of shaky nerves in Congress among his fellow Republicans, do not bet against the president once again outwitting a Democratic leadership determined to reverse the administration’s prosecution of the war.
Even though polls show that most Americans dislike Bush’s handling of Iraq, his political allies insist the public will not back anything that smacks of a congressional takeover of the situation. “They are not going to stand for a diminution of the commander in chief’s war powers without a viable alternative,” said Mary Matalin, a former senior White House adviser.
Still, the congressional Democratic majority is betting that the number of Republican defections will increase significantly in September, when this year’s fifth wave of votes aimed at forcing a troop withdrawal will occur.
Look for the White House and its allies on Capitol Hill to blunt the next Democratic effort by declaring that the U.S. is winning the war and that the surge in troops is making a difference.
That argument could be well served by the very event that Democrats had expected to be the turning point toward their anti-war point of view: a progress report from the military man running things in Iraq. Democrats once thought that Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who is widely respected by both parties for his expertise and candor, would come forth in September with a bleak assessment of the situation on the ground and that his pessimism would justify a meltdown of GOP support for Bush’s course in Iraq. But a different story is now emerging from the Petraeus camp, suggesting instead that he will report that the surge is working well enough to keep it going. And he is expected to conclude forcefully that withdrawal would only lead to bigger problems for both the United States and Iraq.
Encouraged by such previews of the Petraeus report, the White House is tapping sympathetic senators, including Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Independent Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, for what amounts to a full-scale political campaign to thwart the next drive against the war in the Senate, where the balance of power in the debate resides.
Even in the House, where a majority is clearly against the war, plenty of Republicans from conservative districts are still willing to go to bat against a withdrawal plan. “There are actually a few Republicans left who can explain and defend the policy — and, as importantly, the consequences of defeat,” Matalin said.
(Continued here.)
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