Democrats Struggle To Make Peace

By Holly Yeager, The American Prospect. Posted March 13, 2007.

This article is reprinted from the American Prospect.

With his hallway rant about "idiot liberals" demanding an immediate end to the war in Iraq, Dave Obey has become a quick and easy target for an increasingly frustrated anti-war movement. (For those who haven't seen the clip, the House Appropriations Committee chairman was approached by two anti-war activists on the Hill last week, and excoriated them for failing to recognize that the Democratic leadership's approach to ending the war through the spending supplemental was the best they could do.)

But before his outburst lands him a spot alongside George Allen in the YouTube hall of shame, let's slow down to consider Obey and the warning he is trying to sound. For all the hoopla about House Democrats' new powers in the majority, the party leadership stands a real risk of disappointing anti-war activists -- and should probably start thinking now about how to prevent a repeat of the kind of scene that played out in the halls of the Rayburn House building.

The risks are serious. John Gibson of Fox News sketched out an all too plausible narrative when he discussed the episode with Adam Putnam, the fast-rising Florida Republican. "So, if they're fighting with each other about this, are you and fellow Republicans kind of off the hook for now?" Gibson said. "Now it's Dem versus Dem. Is this the right way to run a war?"

Liberals should pay Obey heed. Sure, he's not the most gentle guy in the world. "He has a prickly personality and a vigorous temper and does not suffer gladly those he considers fools or knaves," is how the ever politic Almanac of American Politics puts it.

But Obey, who promptly apologized for the ugly outburst, is a passionate and hard-charging champion of old-fashioned liberalism, and he's been steady in his positions. Elected to the House in 1969 amidst growing opposition to the Vietnam War among members of his party, Obey voted against the 2002 Iraq war resolution. The next year, long before Jack Murtha was a household name, he sent a strongly worded letter to President Bush complaining about the conduct of the war and urging that Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz be allowed "to return to the private sector."

Obey is also an appropriator, well practiced in using spending power to affect policy. The Marine mom who met Obey in the hall wanted Congress to cut off war funding immediately, and called on him to reject the Iraq war supplemental. Arguing with the chief sponsor of the supplemental bill -- which sets a September 8, 2008, deadline for the full withdrawal of U.S. troops -- didn't get her too far. Obey tried hard to convince her that the measure would in fact bring U.S. troops home from Iraq and make it illegal to proceed with the war beyond the 2008 deadline. The $120 billion in war funding bill also sets clear benchmarks for the Iraqi government and increases spending on troop readiness and military and veterans' health.

Pushed for faster action on a quicker pull-out, Obey sounded a warning that everyone in his party should hear. "We couldn't even get the votes to pass a non-binding resolution one week ago. How the hell do you think we're going to get the votes to cut off the war?"

Obey sounded a similar alarm back in January, when the new Congress faced great expectations from anti-war forces that had spoken clearly on Election Day. "There are certain realities we have to face," he said, explaining that any measure to end the war would face a tougher time in the Senate, and that Bush would surely veto any legislation that cuts off funds for the troops. "I don't believe in futile efforts. I believe in doing things that will have results." When pushed about why the new Democratic majority wasn't doing more to assert its will, he shot back, "Do you see a magic wand in this pocket?" (He repeated the magic wand line to the Marine mom on Monday.)

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Holly Yeager is the former U.S. politics correspondent for the Financial Times.

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