The 2006 election was won for the Dems on Iraq. They have to work hard to end the war. This bill is not that. The freshmean members who know they won on this issue know this:
The debate over influencing the administration’s war strategy has roiled the party’s caucus, particularly the newly elected members who came to Washington on a wave of discontent over the war.
The consternation among Democrats on the left and the right has made the outcome of the vote far less certain than leaders had hoped, particularly after respected figures like Representative John Lewis, a liberal Georgia Democrat, declared his opposition, saying, “I will not and cannot vote for another dollar or another dime to support this war.”
. . . Representative Carol Shea-Porter, a New Hampshire Democrat who defeated a two-term Republican last fall by waging an antiwar campaign, said the Iraq debate had proved to be more distressing — and complicated — than she had imagined. . . .
When she returned to her district last weekend and told constituents that she planned to support the Iraq legislation because it had a specific troop withdrawal date, she said she encountered “no murmuring, but screaming.” Even her family was furious about her decision, she said. “I was pretty clear that I was against this war, and it is a shock for people to hear me say that I’m supporting the supplement,” Ms. Shea-Porter said Wednesday. “I would have preferred it to happen faster, but I’m not a Congress of one.”
You have one vote Representative. You know what you promised in your campaign. Honor your promises.
Indeed, the entire Democratic Party promised something better. They better deliver. Or they will suffer the consequences in November 2008.
