Minority Whip Trent Lott says he may oppose a troop escalation in Iraq. Details here.
If you take Democrat opposition and couple it with clear and mounting signs of unease it’s clear that if President George Bush does come out for a “surge” — a political protection word to avoid at all costs using the alarming word “escalate” — in Iraq, any policy Bush puts into place could be on borrowed time and enjoy shaky support.
This would present a situation quite different from the Vietnam War. The Democratic party itself was split during that war but many Republicans had supported it. Today both parties are now seemingly moving to positions where they want to curtail the U.S. role. It’s clear that those who wrote obituaries on the death of neocons’ political influence perhaps wrote them too quickly. Neocon influence appears on the ascent again in the White House, this time putting the White House on a possible political collision course with other segments of the GOP (particularly those segments facing re-election in 2008).
But people need to take a deep breath, as well. Will Lott’s hint translate into actual action when the political moment of truth comes? Or will he support it while expressing reservations? Does it truly undescore political storm clouds gathering as Bush prepares to tell the nation that after an exhaustive, serious, stand-back consideration and weighing of all options (akin to O.J. Simpson saying he’s looking for his wife’s real killers) he is planning to send more troops as short term-fix?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.