In what has been predicted to be the year of the woman, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has achieved what no man has had the courage to do: Challenge President George W. Bush on his signature initiative -- The Iraq War.Today, the U.S. House of Representatives under the control of Nancy Pelosi--it's first female leader, passed by a margin of 64 votes (246-182) a nonbinding resolution expressing its disapproval of President Bush's plan to send more combat troops to Iraq.
Speaker Pelosi expressed confidence that today's vote of essentially no confidence is just the beginning of a political process which she expects will end with the withdrawal of U.S. fighting troops from Iraq. "The passage of this legislation will signal a change in direction in Iraq that will end the fighting and bring our troops home," she said.
While today's vote can not force President Bush to end the war, it has effectively raised the stakes. President Bush, who's resisted the advice of his own generals, public opinion and now the view of the U.S. House of Representatives, is under intense pressure to show that his strategy will work--and he must do so in short order. Without a decisive win--and soon, the Republican prospects for a come-back in the '08 election cycle are dim.
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