PELOSI THREATENS PRESIDENT ON "ESCALATION"

That’s essentially the message she wanted to convey according to this SF Chronicle article. Here’s what ms. Pelosi said while in San Francisco:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, returning to her hometown of San Francisco, strongly warned today that President Bush “should not abuse his power” with regard to troop escalation in the Iraq war and said it is the duty of Congress to “exercise oversight over his power…If the president doesn’t have a plan, Democrats will hold him accountable,” Pelosi said in her first public appearance outside Washington since her election as speaker Jan. 4.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney were undeterred by Pelosi’s attempted power grab. A Constitutional scholar should remind Ms. Pelosi that Congress has the power to declare war and control the budget but it doesn’t have the power to set policy. Neither does it have the authority to execute military policy on a tactical or strategic level. That’s a power given exclusively to the executive branch. Vice President Cheney gives the reason why:

Cheney was even sharper, telling Fox News that “you cannot run a war by committee,” and pointedly suggesting the Democrats don’t have a plan for Iraq.

The Founding Fathers gave the President the title and responsibility of Commander-In-Chief. They knew that there couldn’t be order or accountability if war-making was put in the hands of Congress.

Furthermore, after Congress has authorized the President to wage war, it’s impossible by definition for the President to abuse his powers to wage war. Ms. Pelosi’s power cravings notwithstanding, the fact is that her role in this war is limited at best.

The truth is that she’s limited to cutting off funds to the troops. If she isn’t willing to do that, then all that’s left is for her to huff and puff but it won’t mean anything.

There’s another thing that she’d better consider. If she brings up a Sense of the House Resolution, then she’d best hope that she doesn’t lose that vote. Losing that type of vote would diminish her even further as the woman who couldn’t get things right. Believe it or not, that’s the best case scenario. If that resolution passes, she’d pretty much be throwing all of the freshmen who ran as hawks under the bus. If they have to vote for the resolution, then they’ll lose in 2008.
Cheney needled ‘Mother’ Pelosi by suggesting that Democrats don’t have a plan. Here’s how ‘Mother’ responded:

“We have a plan, and he knows it,” Pelosi said today as she was mobbed by well-wishers following her keynote address at the 22nd annual holiday breakfast.

To be intellectually honest, I must admit that Democrats don’t have a plan; they’ve got several plans. Of course, none consider winning an option, which should be our first priority. Their plans include these options: cut and run, cut and jog, cut and walk. Of course, my favorite is Murtha’s ‘plan’ to redeploy to Okinawa. Gotta love those rapid response redeployments to someplace half a world away.