Democrats are taking over Congress today, preparing to elect Representative Nancy Pelosi (California) to the post of House Majority Leader. The new party in power said they would push for quick action on a number of domestic issues, including stem cell research and the minimum wage. But the most important legislative issues revolve around the chaos in Iraq. Next week in a nationally-televised speech, President George W. Bush will likely announce that he is sending about 20,000 additional troops to pacify Baghdad, in a move described as a surge. Although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat from Nevada) has signaled that he may approve of such a plan, most Democrats oppose it, and will probably resist Bush s wishes. However, the Democrats options are limited to the extremely unpopular option of cutting off funds for the war, a move that would expose the Democratic party to accusations that it is weak on national security. If Bush s surge fails, on the other hand, the Iraq war will largely be seen as a Republican Party failure, haunting GOP candidates at least through the 2008 presidential elections.
