Sen. Hillary Clinton does not seem to have had a good day yesterday. According to this Newsday report , she wobbled over the course of the day about the proper congressional approach to advance the Democratic objective of forcing President Bush and the American military to retreat from Iraq:
Early yesterday, Clinton voted for a motion that would have set up a later vote on the funding cutoff, due to take effect March 31, 2008. By midday, however, she seemed to back off on support for the cutoff, saying she wouldn’t “speculate on what I’m going to be voting on in the future.”
Still later, she told reporters: “I support the underlying” amendment, which was backed by liberal Democrats and reviled by Republicans as admission of defeat in Iraq.
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who also supported the withdrawal bill, pounced. “Frankly, it’s hard to know whether it’s indecision, miscommunication or simple word games and political gamesmanship we’re dealing with,” said Dodd spokeswoman Christy Setzer. “Our troops in Iraq don’t have time for poll-tested word games.”
Actually, if intra-party feuding and campaign posturing prevents Congress from compelling a reckless flight from a pivotal fight, that will give our troops more time to do their job.