NP: Tool, 10,000 Days

Lots and lots of bandwidth will be devoted to the Democratic "capitulation" on the Iraq war funding bill, but the Democrats never had the votes to start any sort of meaningful withdrawal. Never. This was brought up several times when the first bill was discussed, but it seems like it's been conveniently forgotten now.

In that context, does this mean the Dems failed outright? Did they march the ball 80 yards only to fumble in the red zone? Did they punt? I think the latter may be the more appropriate comparison, stretching the metaphor a bit to include a first down where previously, the offense had sputtered three-and-out.

The bigger question is if everything leading up to this new bill has fazed the White House in any appreciable way, or if they were just playing rope-a-dope because they could, you know, count.

To expect the new Congress to reverse course the first chance it got, especially when the Dems don't have a veto-proof majority, seems naive to me. The second chance, come September, may be much more telling.