No More Blank Checks for President Bush on Iraq?

Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decried the President's plan for troop buildup in Iraq and promised to counter any further escalation by declaring that the House won't yield to any blank checks requested by the Bush administration on Iraq. While this isn't a surprise considering that she didn't support the Iraq war and has consistently been a vocal member of the war dissidents faction lead by Rep. Murtha, what's actually astonishing is the mere easiness she is in while pushing for a bill that were it not for its non-binding nature, would actually cut funding for our troops now fighting in Iraq, now dismantling the terror framework that brought grief on that September 11th morning. While such a bill has nothing but a symbolic significance for the President, the Bush administration has resigned to the rebuke of the Democrats, which has now been unmasked to the public by this bill, and laid in waiting for more actionable bills that are sure to crop in the near future...bills that may call for premature troop withdrawal. What this rift between the Bush Administration and the Democrat-controlled House entail is interesting. While the Bush Administration believes that the democrats' non-binding bill--which they term as a political charade lacking both the seriousness or the gravity of the issues it seeks to address-- shows an unprecedented unwillingness on the part of Democrats to actually support the troops now in Iraq, the Democrats are now more eager than ever to bring this war to a close...and deal a major blow to the President's legacy. This is ideally a fight for supremacy, pitting a President whose mission was to rid the world of terrorism and the evils it brings. But now the President has found himself in another war, a political war with the Democrats who curtail his war powers and nag him on every issue...and it seems that the President may actually lose both wars. Whatever happened to Karl Rove, he used to be well equipped in handling these kinds of Presidential dilemmas. Ever since the Plame fiasco, Karl has been missing in action. So do all the President's men. May Madam Speaker please stand up!