DNC Turns Focus to White House

The candidates agreed on expanding health care and reducing dependence on foreign oil, but at times, yesterday's event sounded like an echo of candidate forums in 2003-04, with Iraq still the dominant issue and the Democrats debating what to do next.

Dodd, the leadoff speaker, demanded that Democrats, who now control Congress, do more than pass a nonbinding resolution on Iraq that is soon to be up for debate.

"Frankly, I am disappointed that we can't find a way to do more than send a meaningless message to the White House -- a White House, I would add, that has said it will ignore anything that we have to say about the war in Iraq," Dodd said. "The American people sent us a message this past November; the voters were clear. They want a change in the policy in Iraq."

Edwards, who made no reference to his initial support for the war while he was in the Senate, called for Democrats to block the troop buildup, quoting the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words during the Vietnam War that "silence is betrayal." But he said the White House is counting on Democrats not to fight the new deployments.

"They don't think we have the backbone and courage to stand up to them," he said. "They don't think we are in this to stop the escalation of this war and to bring our men and women home from Iraq. They're counting on us to be weak, to be political and to be careful. This is not the time for political calculation."

Clinton defended efforts to pass a bipartisan, nonbinding resolution putting Congress on record in opposition to the president's new plan. To scattered antiwar protests, she said, "There are many people who wish we could do more, but let me say that if we can get a large, bipartisan vote to disapprove this president's plan for escalation, that will be the first time that we will have said no to President Bush and began to reverse his policies."

Obama, who called this week for combat troops to be out of Iraq by March 31, 2008, said criticism of the president alone is no longer a sufficient strategy for Democrats. "It was enough to run against George Bush during this past congressional election," he said. "It will not be enough now. . . . Every candidate for office in the next election should put forward in clear, unambiguous, uncertain terms exactly how they plan to get out of Iraq."

Clark, who has not set up a campaign committee, offered sharp criticism of the administration for "condoning torture, using rendition and these secrete detention camps, by creating a sense of callous disregard for the innocent lives lost in that conflict and by taking us to an unnecessary war in the first place."

Kucinich, who opposed the war, said Congress now should end it by cutting off funds. "Democrats have an obligation to reclaim Congress's constitutional power to end the war," he said.