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Donk Whip Clyburn: Positive Report by Petraeus "a real big problem for us."
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) ...So we're starting with a guy who's Pelosi's whip. Not an enviable position. Sort of helps one understand why he might have trouble expressing himself. ... said Monday that a strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus likely would split Democrats in the House and impede his party's efforts to press for a timetable to end the war. Nothing like good news to create a split in the Democrat party. Clyburn, in an interview with the washingtonpost.com video program PostTalk, said Democrats might be wise to wait for the Petraeus report, scheduled to be delivered in September, before charting next steps in their year-long struggle with President Bush over the direction of U.S. strategy. He was looking for the Master of the Obvious graphic when he said that. Clyburn noted that Petraeus carries significant weight among the 47 members of the Blue Dog caucus in the House, a group of moderate to conservative Democrats. The rest of the House donks could care less what a dummy like Dr. Patraeus has to day. Without their support, he said, Democratic leaders would find it virtually impossible to pass legislation setting a timetable for withdrawal. "I think there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course and if the Republicans were to stay united as they have been, then it would be a problem for us," Clyburn said. "We, by and large, would be wise to wait on the report." Duh. Many Democrats have anticipated that, at best, Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker would present a mixed analysis of the success of the current troop surge strategy, given continued violence in Baghdad. But of late there have been signs that the commander of U.S. forces might be preparing something more generally positive. I've been looking forward to something like "We've been taking names and kicking asses. But some of the donks might take that as a threat. Clyburn said that would be "a real big problem for us." I somehow suspect this will end up in the first half hour of Rush's show tomorrow. Clyburn noted that while overall approval ratings of Congress are low, people still rate Democrats higher than Republicans. "People feel good about the Democratic Party, they just don't feel real good about the Congress itself. Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-07-31 |
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