Whither the statesmen of yesteryear

It now seems established as an article of faith that the Democrats will make no serious effort to rein in Bush's war. The rationale is a study in cynicism. Although their ineffective posturing will result in many more American deaths and horrendous wounds, cutting off Bush's allowance and grounding him will transfer "ownership" of the Iraq War to the Democrats and make them responsible for losing. For as certain as CO2 concentrations will be higher in the troposphere next year than they are today, Bush will claim he was this close to winning when Congress betrayed his noble cause. The Democrats (particularly in the Senate, where nearly every Democratic Senator is running for President) do believe Bush when he says losing would be catastrophic. A "failed state" in the heart of the Arab world, a breeding ground for terrorism and all kinds of mischief. Can't have that, and can't be responsible for it.

So I'm wondering: what is the difference between this Congress and the last one, where the war is concerned? It was obvious in Bush's speech Wednesday night that he intends to strike inside Iraq and Syria. His response to the change in Congress, in other words, is to set the entire Persian Gulf ablaze. Joe Biden, as always, has made some disapproving noises about this idea, informing Condi Rice that Bush's existing authority does not allow him to cross Iraq's international borders to carry the battle to the Iranians, in particular. But why else would Bush announce his deployment of Patriot missiles in the region, and the dispatch of another carrier group to the Gulf? We don't need aircraft carriers to fight the Baghdad insurgency, and the Iraqi factions don't use intermediate range missiles. He's going to destroy the Syrian and Iranian networks involved in training and supplying Iraqi insurgents, Bush says. Could they really be doing all that right out in the open in Iraq? It seems far more likely Bush is talking about activities within the territorial borders of Syria and Iran.

Despite what Joe Biden, and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska (who compares the cross-border escalation to the Nixon/Kissinger secret war in Cambodia) may say in rejoinder, Bush will not be deterred in the final 24 months of his presidency from attacking Iran if he feels like it. And he clearly feels like it. Bush thinks that war is the answer, that a surgical strike against Iran's nuclear facilities will elevate him to the lofty plane enjoyed by Israel after the destruction of Iraq's Osirak in 1981. Georgie Boy has never been terribly original. Anyway, he's running out of time; there's room for just one more war, he thinks, and this is the big one, the defeat of America's great thorn-in-the-side.

What will La Diva & Mr. Mumbles do about this one? Maybe they'll at last wake up to the idea you have to take Bush on directly, but I doubt it. It might constitute a brand new ground for impeachment, a violation of the War Powers Act, but Bush's artful dodgers will read those earlier authorizations (2001's authorization for war in general against bad people, 2002's for war against Iraq) as implying a license to engage in "cross-border incursions" (like nuclear strikes against the Bushehr reactor in Iran), and the Dems will fret and worry he might be right, and then, once again, they could wind up owning the defeat.

Nope, they'll cluck, and fume, and pass a nonbinding resolution condemning Bush's unilateral act, and then sit back and see if it works before saying anything else. I was always most worried about Bush if he was put in the position of having nothing to lose, which is just about where he is now. Many consider him the worst President ever. He's not going to do anything really positive, like getting behind alternative energy (although I know his State of the Union will go ga-ga for switch grass - just wait), or solving the medical crisis. Too candy-ass, too caring, for Bush. War's his thing. You can do it fast, you can do it now, you can see the results later this afternoon. Unfortunately, we'll all be witnesses to the same thing at the same time.