Biden must go for the knock out at tomorrow night's debate on MSNBC

[Steve_in_California]

As a matter of political strategy, the worst thing Hillary can do is to continue on the same path she has been travelling. The American people are fed up to the gills with this do-nothing Congress. Bush’s little gambit to get the American people to sit tight hasn’t worked. It has had the exact opposite effect . . . and now the anger has gone even deeper.

The way this is shaping up a showdown seems inevitable. On the one side you have Democrats who think that merely cutting off funding will appease the American people and win votes come election day. It’s a long time until then and events in the Middle-East are growing more and more heated with each passing day.

Now terror squads are hunting down prominent Iraqis and murdering them, and the U.S. military is being made to look impotent.

In my view, what Senator Biden should do is to gain the agreement of everyone in the debate that they will work together to turn the tide.

The Biden-Brownback-Boxer amendment is not what many people seem to think it is.

First of all, it does not even touch upon military involvement; it is strictly drafted to provide a vehicle by which Congress is to express a consensus of opinion that the time has come to pursue the goals of federalism in Iraq, to include involving the international community in negotiating a set of agreements to assist Iraq as it moves toward federalism.

The Senate voted, unanimously, to approve another of Senator Biden’s resolutions, S. Res 328.
http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=284079&

“September 25, 2007
Press Release

BIDEN Resolution to Investigate the Assassination of Lebanese Member of Parliament Antoine Ghanem Unanimously Passes Senate

Washington, DC – Yesterday, the Senate unanimously passed S. Res. 328, authored by Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE), which urges the United Nations Security Council to extend the jurisdiction of the international tribunal for Lebanon to include the assassination of Lebanese Member of Parliament Antoine Ghanem and calls upon the Bush Administration and international community to redouble their support for Lebanon.”

This kind of unanimous support clearly demonstrates that Senator Biden is the most respected voice in Congress when it comes to foreign policy. It also clearly shows a willingness on the part of the Senate to reach out to the international community in matters concerning the Middle-East.

Therefore, a convergence of mutual interests is fast becoming a bi-partisan consensus; and this bodes well for the passage of the Biden-Brownback-Boxer amendment as well.

What Democratic Congressional leaders seem to be doing is to create an appearance of taking measures to end this war . . . without actually doing it. So long as this war continues and grows ever more fierce and infuriating, this, they think, improves their chances in the general election. They plan to campaign on a “We tried” platform.

Not one of the Democratic candidates has responded to Senator Biden’s “then what” question. This is the point of vulnerability. I believe the Senator needs to point out that an effective president thinks past the next move and owes it to the public to be truthful as to how any series of moves will likely play out.

If you cut off funding, “then what?” If, as Governor Richardson has claimed (admitting that this will face legal challenges), you can simply “de-authorize” the war pursuant to the Article One of the U.S. Constitution, the question still remains the same–”then what?” Does this all go away? Does the nation of Iraq somehow magically coalesce? And if you take either of these actions–either cutting off the funding or de-authorization–what, then, will be our ability to continue working with the present administration and Republicans in Congress on sending forces to combat al Qaeda in Afghanistan, or for that matter, to any other part of the world? Is the United States simply to bury its head in the sand until the next President assumes office? And, if that is to be our policy, what will this world look like on January 20, 2009? How many dead by then? How many hot-spots? How many allies will we have left?

It seems to me Senator Biden is in a difficult spot. In order to do what’s best for the country, he will need to expose the weaknesses of his Democratic rivals. And making these people appear churlish, childish, and incompetent will not make anyone happy down at the DNC. Yet, it would appear that is precisely what he must do.

Go for the knock out.