Boneless Wonders
EDITORIAL Boneless Wonders "I remember when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum's Circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit on the program...
...Logical...
...That doesn't look decisive...
...If you oppose the war, then don't vote to fund it...
...So you work on your talking points: You understand the president has a tough set of choices...
...But, hey . . . look at those polls...
...No way...
...Sure, the resolution will weaken the president's hand abroad—but that's not their problem...
...What's your obligation...
...More are to be found on the Democratic side of the aisle than the Republican...
...How do you react to President Bush's Iraq speech...
...Besides, being for "escalation" sure doesn't sound good...
...Maybe this new approach deserves a chance to work...
...As Harry Reid said Thursday, "I'm not the president...
...You've complained that there weren't enough troops...
...You need to vote...
...It is the president's obligation to set the policy...
...How about voting to disapprove of the president's "escalation...
...There are honorable exceptions, and not just among those who support the war...
...But, hey—they volunteered...
...And how about Sen...
...Say you're an average congressman...
...You've got doubts about the path he's chosen...
...So why not take the next step...
...And, if you're a Democrat—you didn't put in all that effort getting elected just so you could get a lot of grief from your own activists...
...It will dispirit friends and embolden enemies—but maybe there won't be much attention paid overseas to some nonbinding congressional resolution...
...But the herd of Boneless Wonders these days is a bipartisan one...
...What's more, you've heard good things about General Petraeus from colleagues with military expertise...
...Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have come up with a nonbinding resolution opposing a troop increase...
...After all, you're not cutting off funds...
...It will send the message to the soldiers fighting in Iraq that help is not on the way—that there are no reinforcements...
...Wasn't that a problem in Vietnam...
...But perhaps we should give it a chance . . . But wait—that doesn't sound like leadership...
...There...
...But on what...
...It is simply not credible to maintain that one opposes the war, yet continues to fund it...
...Congress does not dispense with its obligation to the American people simply by opposing a troop surge in Iraq...
...If you're a Republican from a Democratic-leaning state—you didn't put in all those hours getting elected just so you could alienate the swing voters you need...
...Thus, the Boneless Wonders...
...It will lessen the chances of success in Iraq—but that's above their pay grade...
...William Kristol...
...So now Bush has fired Rumsfeld, put Petraeus in command, and sent in more troops...
...You're not embracing any alternative policy...
...It's a demoralizing and revolting spectacle...
...The path ahead in any case is going to be tough, and the new strategy might fail...
...To most of his colleagues, it's a good soundbite...
...EDITORIAL Boneless Wonders "I remember when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum's Circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit on the program which I most desired to see was the one described as 'The Boneless Wonder.' My parents judged that the spectacle would be too demoralizing and revolting for my youthful eye, and I have waited 50 years to see The Boneless Wonder—sitting on the Treasury Bench...
...But you're not just a talking head...
...That's the ticket...
...Last fall you called for replacing Rumsfeld...
...You have said so yourself...
...And the current strategy isn't working...
...Obama on the Today show...
...You're a legislator...
...He continued: "We have an urgent responsibility here...
...That's unfortunate...
...We can't just click our heels and get out of Iraq—the consequences would be disastrous...
...You suspect, deep down, that he's probably doing more or less what he needs to do...
...And the Bush administration is doing a crummy job of explaining this change in strategy...
...Congress under Article I, Section 8, has the war-making power...
...And those op-ed pages...
...We're not going to babysit a civil war...
...Let's see if we can describe their thinking...
...So the Boneless Wonders will push a nonbinding resolution to, as Joe Biden put it, "demonstrate to the president he's on his own...
...You've got lots of questions...
...Winston Churchill, January 28, 1931, in the House of Commons, referring to Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald Today, Boneless Wonders sit on the benches of both parties in Congress...
...You didn't come to Washington to support an unpopular president conducting an unpopular war...
...Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) reminded his colleagues last week that "Congress is a coequal branch of government...
...Certainly not to take responsibility for proposing a real alternative to the president's policy...
...Condemn the president's approach...
...That's a position...
...God knows what it would be...
...Congress appropriates funds for the war...
...To serious people that sounds juvenile...
...But naive and quixotic, in the eyes of the Boneless Wonders...
Vol. 12 • January 2007 • No. 18
