In recent weeks, we've been talking a fair amount about how no prominent Democrats are standing up to give voice to the "withdrawal" movement. Well, that changed today. Russ Feingold is calling for a pull-out date of December 31st, 2006, and, so far as I can tell, he's going to do so loudly. Yesterday, I was invited to two major national security speeches and a media Q&A Russ is giving in Los Angeles early next week. So he's definitely taking the message nationwide and is, if I can speculate, hoping to use hist "firstness" on the topic to carve out a Deanesque maverick position in advance of 2008. Interesting stuff. I will, of course, have more on this after next week's events.
Update: It'll be interesting, as Kevin notes, to see how the Biden/Clinton wing reacts. If they're solicitous of the move and publicly supportive of the motivations behind it, you'll know that a) the polls have got to them and b) they're hedging their bets. If they condemn it and say something about not aiding the insurgency, you'll know they're a bunch of douches determined to avoid another VIetnam-style meltdown of the party's national security credentials. What concerns me is that that second reaction, the condemnations and protests of anti-insurgency strength, are actually much more dangerous for the party. A serious hawk/dove split within the party where the establishment sits with the hawks and the base runs to the doves and turns violently against the war-lovin' establishment is essentially what happened in 68, and it's not the sort of thing that's good for the party.
