Politicians or Statesmen?

I wrote yesterday regarding the Congressional leadership of the Democratic Party caving in the Bush Administration demands on the funding of the war in Iraq. I included indication of my feeling that this vote would play a role in the selection of the Democratic candidate for president in the 2008 election. The war is a flashpoint for the Democratic base, although that would also seem true for the party as a whole and for most independent voters as well.

The moment the legislation was announced, presidential candidates Senator Chris Dodd (D- CT) and former Senator John Edwards (D-NC) came out against it. Dodd followed through by voting against the bill last night. Two other sitting Senators, Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) also voted against the measure. Candidate Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) voted for the measure.

I think that it is worth pointing out that both Dodd and Biden cast their votes early during the voting, before the measure had passed in the Senate. In essence, their votes helped to decide the fate of the legislation. Clinton and Obama, on the other hand, delayed their votes until after the measure had passed, making – after a fashion – their votes purely ceremonial. While I myself would have voted against the measure, in many ways I respect Biden’s early “yes” vote more than the “meaningless” “no” votes that came later from Clinton and Obama. I see these two as wanting to have their cake and eat it, too. I can assure you that in some speeches, both will say that the troops were funded – playing directly into the lies fostered by the White House – and that their “no” votes were strictly to “send a message.” At other times, they will surely play up the fact that they took a “brave” stand and voted against the President. I hope that when this comes about, that the strongly anti-war base of the Democratic Party calls them on it and holds it against them. It was a calculated political move on their part to delay their votes. We need statesmen and leaders, not politicians.

Postscript: There were some very odd votes cast on the House side in this matter. After introducing the “compromise” publicly with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) voted against the measure. (This one truly leaves me puzzled after reading her earlier statements.) Also, Congressman David Obey (D-WI), one of the original negotiators of the bill, voted against it. In the end, 86 Democrats, including Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), voted for the legislation.

25 May 2007