Edwards Presses Democrats to Oppose War Funding

May 23, 2007 — -- Former Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., are ratcheting up the pressure on their fellow Democratic presidential candidates over the Iraq War as Congress grapples with a funding bill amid intense pressure from liberals to force an end to the war.

Edwards told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City today that the current war-funding bill is a "capitulation" to President Bush, since it does not include a timetable to begin a troop withdrawal.

"Congress should send the president the same bill he vetoed again and again until he realizes he has no choice but to start bringing our troops home," Edwards said. "We need to get out of Iraq on our own timetable, not when we are forced to do so by events."

On Wednesday Dodd announced that he will vote against the measure, calling it another "blank check" for the president.

"Half measures and equivocations are not going to change our course in Iraq," said Dodd. "If we are serious about ending the war, Congress must stand up to this president's failed policy now -- with clarity and conviction."

The war-funding bill is forcing the Democratic presidential candidates to make a stark choice: Vote to fund the war and get pilloried by liberals, or vote against funding and risk being accused of recklessness in seeking to cut off money for the troops.

The political risks are manifest for candidates -- like Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. -- who are still explaining their decision to support the war in 2002. And even consistent war opponents -- notably Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. -- are approaching the vote that could come as soon as Thursday with considerable caution.

"It puts the candidates in a position where they'll have to anger the left or their party, or displease the centrists," said Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Boston University. "The clarity that the presidential candidates would like just doesn't happen in the legislative process. Multiple votes -- that's a legislative game, rather than a presidential game."