War Every Day

While congressional Democrats mostly remain enchanted with President Barack Obama, fissures have emerged within the party that signal the potential for a larger schism down the road.

The first big crack could come this week, when the House votes on a war funding bill requested by Obama. The bill may pass only with the help of Republicans, who largely back Obama’s war strategy.

And as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces questions about what she knew and when she knew it concerning harsh interrogation techniques used by the CIA after Sept. 11, it may become harder to bring Democrats back together again.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., was one of several Democrats on Capitol Hill unhappy that the president asked for $85 billion to keep the U.S. military fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan through September.

Obey agreed to grant Obama the funds, but demanded to see evidence within a year that both countries are stabilizing.

“I am extremely dubious about the ability of the administration to achieve its ends in that operation” Obey said.

While Pelosi later rescinded the conditions, Obey’s outburst underscored the discontent among anti-war lawmakers who championed Obama’s candidacy because of his pledge to bring the troops home.

They don’t quite feel betrayed — but they are beginning to feel unappreciated.

“It seems like family, when you sometimes take for granted the people who love you the most,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., a leader of the most liberal faction of House Democrats and the founder of the Out Of Iraq Caucus.

At a White House meeting late last month, Obama discouraged inquisitions into Bush-era interrogation practices, telling Democratic leaders it would be counterproductive. But they aren’t listening.

“He’s got a right to his opinion,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., who will soon convene hearings into the subject — hearings he hopes will spur Obama to act.

“This could lead to the Department of Justice appointing a special prosecutor to go over what we come up with in the committee,” Conyers said.

Pelosi, now caught in a controversy over her prior knowledge of CIA techniques such as waterboarding, is advocating the creation of a “truth commission” after initially being non-committal on investigations.

Woolsey said many Democrats would support the president on war funding and other issues for now, but she warned that their goodwill would not last forever.

“There will be some areas where we will draw a line in the sand,” she said, and the most important among them is the health care reform bill, which Obama hopes will be the crowning achievement of his first term.

Obama has endorsed a public health care option, but he has not indicated how powerful it should be. His liberal wing may give him no choice.

“We are not going to vote for any plan that does not have some robust public option,” Woolsey said.