A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a resolution that outlines a plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday. Half of those surveyed would like all U.S. forces out within 12 months.
A Democratic leadership that was not comatose would greet this as welcome news, taking it as a mandate to stop the war, a move which no doubt would revitalize the party, bring in new people, and win them big victories in November.
But, of course, the Democrats are comatose.
The percentage of Americans who say the president has “a clear plan for handling the situation in Iraq” has dropped to 31%, a new low. That’s still higher than the 25% who say congressional Democrats have a clear plan for Iraq.
That is … pathetic. So is the whole charade of voting when the choices are so dismal. People want a choice. The Democrats aren’t giving them one. Neither is netroots. Kos et al say they want to take over the Democratic Party but their vision differs little from what exists now. Netroots is tepid centrism pretending to be liberal but is actually mostly libertarian. This is change? That their leaders want to install themselves as the new kingmakers is a given. Again, how is this different?
Real change is more than window dressing. It takes time. Thinking that one election will produce a massive change is folly, especially when both parties mostly move in lockstep (except for a few social issues.) That’s why change isn’t happening, and why a reshuffling of the leadership won’t help. Neither party wants it.
If Congressional Dems really wanted to end the war, they’d mobilize to stop funding it. Every thing else is just posturing. The imperialist policies of the US have been in effect for decades; invading countries, overthrowing governments that displease them, torturing dissidents. No, the tortures didn’t begin with Bush, nor will any of this stop if the Dems take the House in November. The arrogance of Congress and the White House on Iraq is appalling. As Lefti on the News recently pointed out, none of them even bothered to ask the Iraqis what they want.
Most Congressional Democrats, along with Republicans, were totally opposed to the Civil Rights movement when it began. But after enough people got in the streets and demonstrated, many of those very same members of Congress voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The change didn’t come through voting, it came through people in the streets who forced often racist Congressmembers to do their bidding.