You know, you'd think that Democrats - after winning the last election based on their opposition to the war - would at least give voters the courtesy of PRETENDING to try to end the war. But, no - apparently, the American public which strongly opposes the war and who voted Democrats into office on their pledges to end the war aren't even entitled to that these days. That's right, in the face of objective evidence from newspapers and the federal government itself that things are getting worse in Iraq, and even before Gen. David Petraeus gives his pro-surge, pro-stay-the-course update, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D) announced that he will be supporting President Bush's request for another $50 billion in Iraq War spending.

Here's the excerpt from the Chicago Tribune:

"In the debate in Washington, the White House reportedly will ask Congress for an additional $50 billion to expand funding for the war in Iraq, a request that seems likely to prolong troop levels at their current elevated number into the spring of 2008, Durbin said. Even opponents of the war, as Durbin calls himself, find themselves likely to vote for the extra money, he said...He said he is likely to approve the increased request."

This is quite clearly the product of Democrats being totally unafraid not only of their own voters, but really of the vast majority of Americans who oppose the war.

With the exception of the Ned Lamont campaign in Connecticut and a recent salvo at Rep. Brian Baird (D), most major antiwar groups have been afflicted with a horrific case of Partisan War Syndrome. Pressure has continued to be brought to bear almost exclusively on Republicans, with many essentially pretending that congressional Democrats don't have the power to end the war - even though those Democrats have majorities in both chambers of the very branch of government that controls the power of the purse. They have enabled what I have called the Democrats Innocent Bystander Fable as exemplified in this YouTube video I put together:

As many of us have predicted for months now, thanks to this one-sided, Partisan War strategy, we are sitting here months after Democrats gave Bush his most recent blank check watching Democrats thumb their noses again, apparently lining up to give him another such blank check.

Let's hope this is finally the teachable moment that ends the Partisan War Syndrome that afflicts the antiwar movement. Let's hope when this next blank check is inevitably cut, the huge amount of resources being funneled into antiwar groups starts going at least in part towards a serious effort - not a sham effort - to hold congressional Democrats accountable.

UPDATE: Chris Bowers has a good post up at OpenLeft about how, even if the strategy is to attach antiwar language to the $50 billion funding bill, the move by Democrats to preemptively announce they will support the supplemental bill hurts that underlying antiwar objective.

_______



About author David Sirota is a political strategist and NY Times bestselling author whose work appears in major newspapers and magazines. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and The Colbert Report. He has appeared in TV debates with right-wing icons like Ann Coulter, John Stossel and John Fund. Email: david [at] davidsirota.com.