Democrats Struggle To Make Peace

[babylonsister]

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/49164/

Democrats Struggle To Make Peace

By Holly Yeager, The American Prospect. Posted March 13, 2007.

Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey blew a fuse in front of an anti-war military mom (and a rolling camera). But his words should be heeded.


With his hallway rant about "idiot liberals" demanding an immediate end to the war in Iraq, Dave Obey has become a quick and easy target for an increasingly frustrated anti-war movement. (For those who haven't seen the clip, the House Appropriations Committee chairman was approached by two anti-war activists on the Hill last week, and excoriated them for failing to recognize that the Democratic leadership's approach to ending the war through the spending supplemental was the best they could do.)

But before his outburst lands him a spot alongside George Allen in the YouTube hall of shame, let's slow down to consider Obey and the warning he is trying to sound. For all the hoopla about House Democrats' new powers in the majority, the party leadership stands a real risk of disappointing anti-war activists -- and should probably start thinking now about how to prevent a repeat of the kind of scene that played out in the halls of the Rayburn House building.

The risks are serious. John Gibson of Fox News sketched out an all too plausible narrative when he discussed the episode with Adam Putnam, the fast-rising Florida Republican. "So, if they're fighting with each other about this, are you and fellow Republicans kind of off the hook for now?" Gibson said. "Now it's Dem versus Dem. Is this the right way to run a war?"

Liberals should pay Obey heed. Sure, he's not the most gentle guy in the world. "He has a prickly personality and a vigorous temper and does not suffer gladly those he considers fools or knaves," is how the ever politic Almanac of American Politics puts it.

But Obey, who promptly apologized for the ugly outburst, is a passionate and hard-charging champion of old-fashioned liberalism, and he's been steady in his positions. Elected to the House in 1969 amidst growing opposition to the Vietnam War among members of his party, Obey voted against the 2002 Iraq war resolution. The next year, long before Jack Murtha was a household name, he sent a strongly worded letter to President Bush complaining about the conduct of the war and urging that Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz be allowed "to return to the private sector."

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[Monkeyman]

1. Infighting will destroy any chance we have of bring them home

[babylonsister]

2. You fought for freedom of speech; now you think it's a

bad idea? Not trying to start an argument, but I can't agree with you. All sides are entitled to their opinions. I just hope people can remain civil.