USAToday: Follow Up The Iraq Resolutions With Benchmarks For Bush

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Follow the Iraq resolutions with benchmarks for Bush

Opponents widely dismiss the resolution as toothless political posturing, and there's some truth to that. The measure requires no change in policy and offers no alternative. In a sense, it offers members a free shot at an unpopular president and a controversial war.

At the same time, it sends a powerful message, which is why those same opponents have fought so furiously to stop it. For the first time since Congress voted in late 2002 to give the president permission to go to war, a majority of one chamber will go on record against Bush's management of the conflict.

Put simply, it is a vote of no confidence in Bush's plan, and one in which a dozen or more Republicans are expected to join. It is a formal way for members of Congress to say what their constituents said in the last election and in every subsequent poll: They will not tolerate the failing war much longer.

The Senate may follow with its own non-binding resolution, but what matters more is what comes next. How exactly can Congress put Bush on the tighter leash that his mismanagement of the war merits without undercutting troops in the field?

One thing that will not happen is a quick end to the war, which Congress could force by refusing to approve the nearly $100 billion Bush is seeking to finance it. For all their angst, the Democrats have no stomach for this...