A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall

Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid has been hinting at possible legislation to alter the Congressional authorization for use of force in Iraq, such as possibly just to fight al Qaeda and train Iraqi forces, for example.
Unlike the non-binding resolution which still couldn’t come out of a filibuster, this type of legislation would be subject to an almost certain Presidential veto. Of course, in framing the issues for any leading Democratic candidate except Hillary Clinton, one couldn’t be clearer about pitting the interests and desires of the American people writ large versus those of the Beltway and military-industrial complex super-elite classes, now, could one? I remain amazed that Democrats fail to see that by “being all patriotic and bipartisan”, they lost control of the Senate in 2002 and allowed Bush and GOP control of both Houses to continue in office in 2004, whereas by finally showing some cojones in 2006, they took back Congress… they draw the lesson “we better listen to our well-paid consultants and do what we did in ’02 and ’04…” Anyway…
Assuming that the pro-Hillary forces (possibly backed by “yea-for-war” voters and prez-candidates such as Biden and Dodd) don’t manage to kill Reid’s initiative (Reid voted for the original Iraq war authorization too, btw) before it even gets out of the box, we’ll start to hear about “Constitutional Crisis” from the usual chattering asses. This is what we always hear when Republican thugs try and make things ugly (think “sending Congressional staffer thugs to intimidate canvassers conducting vote counts in Dade County, Florida” for example). But THE CONSTITUTION makes Congress the superior branch– that’s why it gets Article I. That’s why Congress can remove the President, AND NOT VICE VERSA.
In short, crisis, schmisis. It’s Congress’s JOB to rein in the President, if that is its desire, including in matters of war and peace. Now we’ll just see if, despite overwhelming popular support to dramatically alter course in the Iraq war (if not to end it and end it yesterday), Congress will follow through…
Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’,
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’,
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’,
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.