A Dysfunctional Democracy

[Ibby]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16815916/site/newsweek/

Jan. 25, 2007 - Why are Washington policymakers so skeptical that George W. Bush’s surge plan for Iraq can work? In large part because they don’t trust Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The consensus in town: Maliki must get his act together, fix Iraqi governance and quell the out-of-control sectarian hatred in his country if America is to have any hope of success.

What’s missing here is that Maliki and the rest of the world have every reason to be skeptical themselves about America’s own governance, not to mention our out-of-control sectarian divisions. And if they don’t think we can get our act together and speak with a common voice, they may cut separate deals (in Maliki’s case, with Tehran).

All these problems were on display in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday as it debated a resolution opposing the president’s decision to send another 21,000 troops into what Sen. Chuck Hagel called "the grinder” of Iraq. “Don't hide anymore; none of us!” Hagel barked to his fellow Republicans, lecturing them from the moral high ground he occupies as a plain-speaking Vietnam vet who said publicly, earlier than most, that the Iraq invasion was wrongheaded. Hagel was simply asking his colleagues that if they opposed Bush’s plan, they have the courage to say so, rather than continue to act as a rubber stamp. “I want every one of you, every one of us, 100 senators to look in that camera, and you tell your people back home what you think,” Hagel said. “If we don’t debate this, we are not worthy of our country.” Although several Republicans expressed misgivings, only Hagel voted in favor of the nonbinding resolution in the end.

The Democrats, meanwhile, were caught up in their own internecine fight. “This is our moment!” said Sen. John Kerry, who had failed to seize the moment during his 2004 presidential run by refusing to attack the president over Iraq until the last six weeks of his campaign. As it turned out, this wasn’t really Kerry’s moment either—he announced later that day he would not run for president again. And he was promptly contradicted by his fellow Democrat, Russ Feingold, who remarked: “I’ve heard many of my colleagues today say this is the moment. I guess what I would say is: it should be the moment, but because we are not taking strong enough action, we will not rise to the moment.” Feingold, who wanted a resolution with teeth that use “our authorities under the Constitution” to cut off funding after a set date, went on to implicitly chastise his committee chairman, Sen. Joe Biden, for timidity. “Let me remind my colleagues on this side of the aisle—I’m so pleased we’re in the majority again—but we were in the majority when this war was approved,” said Feingold. “I see this committee and this Senate once again allowing itself to be intimidated into not talking about our real powers and our responsibility.” That prompted Biden to protest loudly—and perhaps a bit too much. “I may have a reputation in a number of things, but I don’t think it’s one of being intimidated by anybody, let alone a president,” a glowering Biden said. “If you find a person who’s spoken more frankly to seven presidents in the past, tell me who it was. So there is no intimidation here.”

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And this, ladies and gentlemen, is just another reason I hate america.