Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, of Massachusetts, will introduce a measure aimed at retracting the wide latitude Congress gave to President Bush earlier this year in using military force against Iraq.
Congress was wrong to give Bush the right to attack Iraq at will. Many still question the resolution’s constitutionality given only Congress has the power to declare war, which is what Bush can now essentially do. But Kennedy’s resolution comes a little too late. Republicans have control of Congress now and there’s little chance any of them will throw their career down the drain in opposing Bush on the Iraq issue.
The Democrats have only themselves to blame for allowing Congress to give Bush more power. Some senators, such as John Kerry (D-Ma) who now have reservations about how Bush is handling Iraq, voted to give him military leeway in the first place. Given the president’s high approval ratings last year, Democrats feared the political backlash they’d receive if they opposed a popular foreign policy.
Even though a retractive resolution would fail, Democrats should still introduce it to Congress. If anything, it will place more pressure on Bush to make his case for war known; he doesn’t have a stranglehold on both political parties.