Dems Call For Iraq Withdrawal

A number of Democrats in congress including party leaders wrote a letter to President Bush calling for him to implement a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
I'd like to see this as a great and hopeful move. Passages from the letter, like the one below, show that some Democrats at least understand the problem:

Meanwhile, U.S. troops and taxpayers continue to pay a high price as your Administration searches for a policy. Over 2,500 Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice and over 18,000 others have been wounded. The Iraq war has also strained our military and constrained our ability to deal with other challenges. Readiness levels for the Army are at lows not seen since Vietnam, as virtually no active Army non-deployed combat brigade is prepared to perform its wartime missions. American taxpayers have already contributed over $300 billion and each week we stay in Iraq adds nearly $3 billion more to our record budget deficit.

But I have problems with this move.

One, they wrote a letter to the president. A letter. To a man who is incapable of even considering anything that conflicts with his very narrow, very simplistic world view. Writing a letter to George Bush asking him to consider a change in direction has as much chance of making any practical difference as sprinkling fairy dust on Barney the White House dog would have of making him flap his ears and fly.

Two, however strong the wording, this is just a letter signed by individual Democrats. It's like the Democratic Party still can't understand that having one group of Democrats saying one thing and another group saying something else undercuts both messages. The Democrats are going to remain weak as long as they resist creating a consistent message and imposing it on the party. Anyone who can't live with that message can leave the party. And if that sounds self-defeating, being seen as weak and unfocused is more of a problem. That's what lost Dems the last three major national elections.

The letter's well-written, but its time for something a little more real from the Democratic Party.