Democratic Candidates Having It Both Ways

It's nice to be for something and against it at the same time--if you're a Democratic candidate for the Presidency. Everyone is happy and nothing gets done. It takes skill, though.

The Senate on Wednesday rejected legislation that would cut off money for combat operations in Iraq after March 31, 2008. The vote was a loss for Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., and other Democrats who want to end the war. But the effort picked up support from members, including presidential hopefuls previously reluctant to limit war funding - an indication of the war's unpopularity among voters. The proposal lost 29-67 on a procedural vote, falling 41 votes short of the necessary votes to advance.

Well, the vote failure was a sure thing, so why not vote for legislation popular with the Left as long as you know that it will not pass? And, then, you can make a wishy-washy statement to please people on the other side, too.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democratic presidential front-runner, previously opposed setting a deadline on the war. But she said she agreed to back the measure "because we, as a united party, must work together with clarity of purpose and mission to begin bringing our troops home and end this war."

Sen. Barack Obama, another leading 2008 prospect, said he would prefer a plan that offers more flexibility but wanted "to send a strong statement to the Iraqi government, the president and my Republican colleagues that it's long past time to change course."

"I'm not crazy about the language in the Feingold amendment, but I am crazy about the idea that we have to keep the pressure on," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who also wants the Democratic presidential nomination.

Is this true leadership? Why is it so hard for them to make a decision, take a stand, and stick with it?

It's getting to the point that they were for the war before they were against it, before they were for it again, after they were for something in-between, before they said what they thought they were for before they realized that they didn't mean what they said, after they....