Facing reality

It's ridiculous, short-sighted and incredibly shallow arguments like this one at TalkLeft which make me fearful that we Democrats could lose all sorts of common sense just two years away from the 2008 presidential election.

The post criticizes James Fallows and Matthew Yglesias for seeing the merit in a non-binding resolution opposing the president's strategy in Iraq. Safe to say, I wholeheartedly agree with both Fallows and Yglesias. Strategically and politically, any attempt by Congress to seek to control the purse strings of this particular military operation is a terrible idea.

And, people, Iran is a very serious issue. Its leader, Ahmadinejad, is more than a tad off his rocker and also is pretty unstable in his own country. Iran obtaining nuclear weapons would be a very bad thing for the Middle East. However, the fact that I recognize these things and call for a proactive strategy for how to confront these problems doesn't mean I'm calling for the bombs to fall on Tehran this afternoon.

I agree with Yglesias in that if you want to read about a coherent way to address this situation that I'd suggest John Edwards's recent interview with the American Prospect.