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The Senate is preparing to undercut the president and the troops by passing a "non-binding" resolution that will signal our enemies that all they need to do is survive the new battle for Baghdad and take as many American lives as possible and the support for the war will collapse. The resolution will have the immediate effect of telling the troops that they don't have the support of the Congress and that they are being asked to sacrifice for a battle which the Congress of the United States believes is already lost.
Passage of this declaration of defeat would be a disaster.
Senator McCain wants to be president. If he can't lead even his Republican colleagues in the Senate to an understanding of how damaging this course is, much less the Democrats, how will he lead the House and the country towards resolve on the war?
John McCain has got to publicly go after his GOP colleagues who are developing round heels, and to swing away as well as the defeatists on the other side. He should be on the Sunday shows and in print making this case, and in terms that leave no doubt about the seriousness of the moment.
Senator McCain was able to put together coalitions to halt the Constitutional Option on judicial nominations, to force McCain-Kennedy to the Senate floor and McCain-Feingold into law, as well as to halt the September , '06 agenda of the GOP, which would have confirmed the president's constitutional authority to conduct warrantless surveillance of al Qaeda contacting its operatives in the U.S. Perhaps he can put those skills to successful work on behalf of the war.
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