Daschle Defends Challenge of Bush on War

Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) yesterday rejected Republican criticism that he had unpatriotically challenged President Bush over the war on terrorism and said Democrats will stand their ground.

"The Congress has a constitutional responsibility to ask questions," he said. "We are not a rubber stamp to this president or to anybody else. We must do what the Constitution and what our best judgment requires, and we'll continue to do this."

Daschle called GOP reaction to his remarks Thursday "nothing short of hysterical" and challenged them to show where he had criticized the president. On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) accused Daschle of trying to "divide the country," while House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) said the senator's comments had been "disgusting."

"What I said is, you can't overstate the success we have made so far," Daschle said at a morning news conference. "I don't know how much more unequivocal you can be than that. What I did say, though, is that there ought to be some criteria by which we judge future success and we ought to lay out those criteria and we ought to be asking tough questions."

One of those criteria cited by Daschle on Thursday was whether the war on terrorism could ever be judged successful as long as terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mohammad Omar remain at large.

During a trip to Iowa yesterday, Bush said he does not want the war judged solely on that basis. "I've said repeatedly -- and most Americans understand this, as well -- that our war against terror is far greater than one person," he said. Bush deflected questions about Daschle's comments, saying he was confident that the American people understand that this will be a lengthy war and will be patient in making their judgments about success or failure.

The exchanges of the past three days have left Daschle steamed, according to other Democrats, and his colleagues are insisting they will not be intimidated by the Republicans. But they remain hesitant to aim their remarks squarely at the president, and they have stepped gingerly into a debate that has been brewing over the next phase of the war. It is a debate with implications for the direction of administration policy on the war and for this year's midterm elections as well.

The questions from Daschle and other Democrats are mild by historical standards of dissent on foreign policy, but the reaction from Bush's party underscored the view that Republicans believe the president is politically unassailable on the war and will attempt to punish Democrats who challenge him.

Democrats helped to create their own problems on this debate by calculating that, if they stood in patriotic solidarity with Bush on the war, they would have the political cover to challenge him on the economy and domestic priorities. For the most part they have remained true to that strategy. Where they may have miscalculated was in believing that by early this year, the war in Afghanistan would be winding down and that public attention would swing away from terrorism back to domestic issues.

That has yet to happen. Not only is the war in Afghanistan far from over, Bush continues to remind people that the broader war on terrorism remains his overriding priority, and his still-soaring approval ratings suggest the public continues to support him in that effort.

But there are major unresolved issues about where that war is going. Bush's declaration that Iraq, Iran and North Korea constitute an "axis of evil" has raised more questions about his intentions than it answered. His request for an additional $48 billion in defense spending has caused Democrats to ask pointed questions about how it will be spent -- and whether the spending for the Pentagon and homeland security are coming at the expense of domestic needs such as a prescription drug benefit.

Given Democratic reactions to White House senior adviser Karl Rove's comment last month that Republicans should attempt to capitalize politically this year on Bush's handling of the campaign against terrorism -- something both GOP and Democratic strategists were privately assuming -- it was not surprising that Republicans eagerly attacked Daschle for what he said this week.

Both parties are primed to challenge the other's patriotism in how they talk about and use the war, and it will be up to the voters to referee this aspect of the dispute, if they choose.

Daschle's response yesterday was echoed by other Democrats, who warned Republicans not to attempt to stifle legitimate debate over U.S. policy. "This is going to be a perpetual war," said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.). "The idea that you can never raise a question about expenditures is not, I think, an idea that's going to fly with the American people."

Sen. Robert G. Torricelli (D-N.J.), who is running for reelection, said Americans respect the right of lawmakers to raise questions. "I think the [GOP's] vociferous reaction may silence some Democrats for a time, but people in the country have their own misgivings and are going to want a discussion of the alternatives," he said.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), in an interview Thursday, made clear he has many questions for the administration -- and some frustration over the way the Bush team is ignoring Congress as it charts its policy. He said the administration has "no clear message" about the war at this point. "There is nobody I know you can go to in this administration [who can say] this is the plan," he said.

Praising Bush and his team for their initial handling of the war as "close to flawless," Biden said the administration now suffers from "a little hubris" and said he feared it had abandoned a multilateral approach and was now in a "unilateral mode." He also said that "the one thing that has changed is consultation. Nobody is calling me up now. It's not like it was last year, not like it was in October."

Democrats said yesterday that what happened this week does not represent a change in the party's strategy. "I think most of the focus is going to be in support of the president on the war but to continue to question where he's going on domestic policy," said John D. Podesta, who was chief of staff in the Clinton White House. "That's where 99 percent of their [Democrats'] energy is going to be spent."

The public reaction to what has happened will give Democrats -- especially those in close races -- signals about the boundaries of debate, but until the next phase of the war has been more clearly defined, the questions are likely to continue.