Now What?

Now that the president has vetoed the supplemental funding bill for the Iraq War, "compromise" seems to be in the air. The compromise will apparently be the inclusion of "benchmarks" that the Iraqi government must meet, though there is not likely to be any penalties for failure to meet the benchmarks.

If this is the form the compromise takes, it will be interesting to see how the vote in the House breaks down. Speaker Pelosi will likely lose the most liberal Democrats, who will still insist on withdrawal timetables. House Republicans are likely to embrace the compromise, especially as the White House will have given the "green light".

It will also be interesting to see how Democratic presidential candidates respond to this compromise. Party activists, which make-up the bulk of primary voters, want out of Iraq.

All of this is prelude to the big battle for war funding that is looming with the October budget. By then, the verdict will be in on "the surge", and serious efforts will be made to bring the war to a close -- only this time, there will be congressional Republican support for this approach.