The Democrats are making a big hoopla about this resolution they’re going to pass opposing the President’s troop surge in Iraq, but as much attention as they’re giving this thing the reality is that it’s non-binding.  It will be, if it passes, little more than a memo to the President telling him that they don’t like his new policy for Iraq.

My question for the Democrats is this: If you oppose this troop surge so much why not do something substantial that will actually have an impact on our policy in Iraq?  Why not deny the President the funds to implement this troop surge?  Not necessarily cut of all funds for the war, but just refuse to appropriate the funds for a surge specifically?

Since no Democrat is likely to answer those questions themselves (at least not honestly), I’ll answer them.  The Democrats aren’t doing anything binding on Iraq because they’re political cowards.

While these Dems are busy passing this resolution and gnashing their teeth over Bush’s new Iraq policy they’re also getting ready to hand him all the resources he needs to carry out that strategy on a platter.  Which is fine by me as that’s exactly what I think Congress should do, but one wonders how the Democrats reconcile their nasty rhetoric about Bush’s war policies with their willingness to fund that policy.

My guess is they do reconcile that reality because they are afraid to take any truly substantial position on Iraq either way.  They don’t want to oppose the President’s policies too harshly lest they work and the Dems look like fools, and they don’t want to embrace them either lest they alienate their far-left anti-war base.  So they take the middle road.  The talk nasty and the act cooperatively while no one is looking.

Well, relatively cooperatively anyway.  But given the duality of this thoroughly political position one wonders why anybody in this country should take Democrats seriously on Iraq policy at all.  They’re clearly not making their decisions based on what’s best for the mission in Iraq or this country but rather upon what’s best for them politically as a party.