Democrats pushing a losing position

By Jeff Dobbs

Why are the Democrats continuing to argue that the U.S. is ready to adopt their Iraq strategy? Back in November, looking at the number of Iraqi refugees who were returning to a much pacified homeland, I argued:

To the extent that the war in Iraq will play a significant role in the 2008 elections, the numbers should be compelling and astounding to Democrats, in a direction they never could have imagined just a few months ago.

Undeterred by such progress at the time and continued progress since, Nancy Pelosi has given us her latest refusal to move on from the "Iraq is a failure" meme:

BLITZER: Are you not worried, though, that all the gains that have been achieved over the past year might be lost?

PELOSI: There haven't been gains, Wolf. The gains have not produced the desired effect, which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure.

Before the surge, such a proclamation indeed made political sense, even if pushing for defeat in Iraq for political gain was as abhorrent as it was transparent. Even into the middle of last year, the Democrats could still point to high levels of violence and a politically paralyzed government.

But now in the early months of 2008, after months of declining violence and with the Iraqi government making steps toward political reconciliation, it is becoming increasingly apparent that if intended to produce political gains, declaring Iraq a failure is seriously misguided.

Jim Geraghty of National Review Online's Campaign Spot Blog points us to what he calls "Some eye-opening polls result from Strategic Vision in Wisconsin":