What to Watch

There are a couple of stories percolating along during the Thanksgiving break, and just when no one's supposed to be watching is when the real drama might start. I'm not at all prepared to guess how long it will last, but for the moment, at least, the Democrats are showing off their spine again. I may have been premature in writing off the Democratic failure to make an effort to get their $50 billion Iraq bill through the Senate. Once their bill I'm still disappointed that they couldn't even get enough interest going to make it look like they were trying, but in the past couple of days, I've realized that passing it was never the point. If they'd passed the bill, which tied the money to drawing down troops from Iraq, the Prez would've vetoed it, and the Senate never would've had a possibility of overriding the veto. This way, by rolling over and letting the Republicans maneuver themselves into blocking the bill, they've been left with an issue that has legs. Although Congress last week appropriated more than $400 billion for the Pentagon, the Prez and the Pentagon are pleading poverty and threatening to slow the Defense Department to a crawl without the separate money for Iraq. Representatives Jack Murtha and David Obey called them on it yesterday, reminding us that the Pentagon had recently been voted a full budget except for Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's some of what Murtha had to say:

This week around our Thanksgiving tables there'll be two families. One who say they support the troops -- and they do -- but they have sacrificed very little. They haven't had their taxes raised. They haven't been drafted, and they don't really participate in the war. The other are military families who have husbands and wives, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters in the war theater. It's them who shoulder the burden of the president's Iraq policy. America owes them our thanks on this Thanksgiving weekend.

He's exactly right. Unfortunately, this is when the current Democrats tend to fold in these kinds of negotiations. They take a strong stand, look like they're going to do what it takes to hold onto it, and then acquiesce to whatever the Prez wants. They need to keep holding the line on this to remind us all why we voted for them in the first place.

Normally at this point, I'd be pretty pessimistic about the Democrats' likelihood to keep fighting the fight. But there's another development that's giving me hope. Harry Reid's taking steps to keep the Prez from appointing odious candidates to open offices. He's been nominating people that everybody knows couldn't be confirmed by the Senate, but he's holding on to those nominations and appointing them without Senate approval as soon as the Senate leaves town. This time around, having seen the writing on the wall from too many recess appointments, Reid is making sure the Senate never goes out of session. He's arranged pro forma sessions in which one senator can open and close the Senate, keeping it out of recess. Tuesday was Jim Webb's turn. The only senator in the chamber, he gaveled the session open and then gaveled it closed a mere twenty-two seconds later. He knows how to give good soundbite and called the activity "an exercise in protecting the Constitution and our constitutional process."

So it looks like the Democrats are standing up against the Prez today. Will they continue to do it tomorrow? Well, I for one have my fingers crossed.