Confidence

The Senate is on the record, passing an emergency supplemental bill that includes a timeline for withdrawal. And they appear to be completely unified on this score.

Their aggressiveness and unity on a major foreign-policy challenge to the president is a striking change for a party that has, on many occasions over many years, seemed to be on the defensive on national security issues.

In fact, for much of the post-Vietnam era, the Republican advantage on those issues has been a defining feature of American politics. Many Democrats felt they needed to prove, again and again, that their party was tough enough to defend the nation’s interests — to fight the notion, often stoked by Republicans, that Democrats were the party of George McGovern and the nuclear freeze.

Critics on the party’s left complained that Democratic leaders had grown risk-averse, too consumed with defending against old charges from the 60s and 70s, too reluctant to stand up against the president.

But the Democratic votes over the past five days, calling for the withdrawal of most American combat troops from Iraq next year despite repeated threats of a presidential veto, show how much that image has shifted.

Yes, I do hope that we've gotten past this stupid reliance on Vietnam-era tropes. This is a new day and the public opinion is quite different on the war, which obviously is wind at the Democrat's back. They ought to be confidently explaining their stated goals in foreign policy, which do exist, even if the press largely ignores them.

Now, after conference committee, the veto will commence, and Democrats will need to plot their next move. We'll be watching.