Have the Dems Set Themselves Up for Disaster?

Although there was great crowing and preening on the part of the Dems after they barely passed the Iraq funding bill calling for a date certain for surrender, that brief victory may have set them up for a crushing defeat, if the scenerio envisioned by former Clinton aide Dick Morris comes to pass:

DEMOCRATS in Congress are heading into a game of chicken with the Bush White House akin to the Gingrich-Clinton government shutdown battle of 1995-96. The roles are reversed this time - so the Republicans are likely to prevail.

The consequences will be lasting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will find their party shattered. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be forced to choose sides in their party's schism.

The game will unfold predictably. The House and the Senate will compromise on the differences in their legislation funding the Iraq War; the end product, carrying poison-pill language that sets a deadline for troop withdrawal, will go to the White House to face an inevitable presidential veto. The Democrats' override attempt will fail - and a deadlock will ensue.

Then the Democrats will threaten to withhold funding for the war in Iraq unless the White House agrees to some form of deadline. The Bush administration will reply that it will never agree to a schedule for troop withdrawal - and both sides will glare at the other across an abyss.

But Bush will, inevitably, win the game of chicken. Pelosi and Reid have too much sense to be caught denying funding to troops in combat. Bush will make the price of obstinacy too great for the Democrats to bear.

Nobody will want to be in the position of cutting off funding and appearing to undermine the troops during a war.

I think Morris gives the Democrats way too much credit for common sense. I'm not sure sure they're not willing to go ahead and attempt to cut off funding if the president holds the line with his veto power. This whole thing has become so intensely polarized that I can't imagine what common ground would look like.

Barack Obama is already being hammered by the left after his statement that the Senate would approve funding without the timeline if Bush vetoed the first bill (which he will), so the question becomes whether the wacky left still holds enough power with the Dems to force them to hold firm again the president in demanding a timeline to go with any funds.

Morris was in the White House during the 1995 standoff with Newt Gingrich, but I'm not sure that President Bush will hold as firm as Bill Clinton did. If he shows any sign of seeking compromise on the timeline, he'll empower the Dems and their media allies and he'll lose this important fight.