Democrats Become the New War Party

If you had any remaining hope that a Democratic president would put an end to the occupation in Iraq, you can now abandon it after yesterday's Democratic candidate’s debate. Clinton, Obama and Edwards - hereafter CEO - all refused to commit themselves to withdrawing all US forces from Iraq before 2013! As Jeffrey Feldman writes at the Huffington Post:

Rather than having a Presidential election between a problem solving Democrat and a militaristic Republican, the Democratic Party appears to believe that the race will be between an enlightened militaristic Democrat and an authoritarian militaristic Republican.

At this point, my only reason for even bothering to vote in 2008 is my faint hope that a Democratic congress might modify Medicare’s prescription drug benefit to allow the government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers without a presidential veto.