When President Bush met with House Republicans in a closed door session to defend his new troop deployment, he said, “I’m the decision-maker.” (News and Observer; 1-27-07). Only, when it was leaked to the press it sounded a bit like Al Haig charging into the White House press room after President Reagan was wounded and saying, “I’m in charge here.”

The President and the Democratic majority in Congress are on a collision course about who is going to make the decision to continue the war. Rank and file Democratic lawmakers, it seems every day, introduce new legislation to withdraw from Iraq. But, oddly, Democratic leaders haven’t embraced these bills – instead, so far, all they propose are non-binding resolutions.

It’s hard to understand the Democratic leaders’ reasoning. If they are dead-set on ending the war why wait? They have said loud and clear, in their opinion young men are dying in a war that serves no purpose – so, surely, from their point of view, ending the war now is preferable to ending it in six months.

So why won’t they go ahead and hold a real vote? They are trying to have it both ways. They’re trying to avoid sharing the responsibility for sending more men to Iraq – if it turns out to be a mistake. And they’re trying to avoid the consequences of ending the war – if that turns out to be a mistake. So, straddling the fence, instead of taking a stand, the Democratic leaders are telling President Bush, We don’t like it, but we’re going to let you do it anyway.

But what would have happened last fall if, before the election, Democrats had said, candidly, Of course, we want to end the war – but all you can count on from us is non-binding resolutions?

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