What happens if the Iraqi national political leaders start coming together and the Iraqi Parliament begins making great progress? My guess is that instead of hearing praise from the Democrats for the success, we will see the goalposts being moved and attention being shifted yet again.

The problem for Democrats is that they have spent the past four years making Iraq into the “be all” and “end all” of not only this presidency, but of the Republican party as a whole. Good news in Iraq is good news for America, but as a result of Democrats spending the past four years investing in the defeatist position, good news in Iraq is not good news for their political prospects. Earlier this week, House Majority Whip James Clyburn said that a positive report from General David Petraeus on Iraq would be “a real big problem for us.” It doesn’t necessarily have to be that way though.

I will offer the following advice to Democrats in Congress knowing it is unlikely that they will accept it: Instead of ignoring, or worse denigrating, every word of progress our forces have worked to accomplish in Iraq, acknowledge that progress and celebrate it. You can still point out the areas in which progress is lacking. Just be honest about the good news there is to report.

If our mission in Iraq were to ultimately be deemed a success, everyone would know that most Democrats had been wrong to want to abandon the mission. But if Democrats would actually start celebrating our victories, maybe the majority of the public would forget that for a time they appeared to be actively working for defeat. Just maybe if Democrats in Congress would begin working to ensure that the progress that is being made in Iraq is built upon and encouraged, rather than belittled and abandoned and defunded, they would be able to share the credit for any resulting success.

Instead most Democrats seem determined to not only ignore the positive results of the surge, but to do what is in their power to see them reversed. That is not good for America and regardless of what the effect is at the ballot box, it is not good for Democrats either.