Presidential Candidates Take Advantage of Senate Hearings

For four Democratic presidential candidates, yesterday's Iraq hearings offered a high-profile platform to challenge President Bush on Iraq. For the lone Senate Republican seeking the White House, the hearings were an opportunity to boost his struggling candidacy by embracing what the top two U.S. officials in Iraq said were signs of progress.

The nearly 10 hours of testimony by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker before two Senate committees featured a decided political edge that was missing from their Monday appearances before a House committee.

As significant as the coming congressional debate over Bush's policy may turn out to be, the 2008 presidential campaign may prove to be the ultimate forum for rendering judgment on the question asked repeatedly yesterday: "What next?"

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) charged that accepting the two officials' assessment of the success of the troop surge strategy required "the willing suspension of disbelief."

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) sounded what seemed like a conciliatory note by saying he was among those interested in a bipartisan compromise in Congress, but said Bush's bravado has gotten in the way. He said public patience with the war was nearly exhausted. "At what point do we say, 'Enough'?" he asked.

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the lone Republican among the five candidates on stage yesterday, threw down a stark challenge to the Democrats. "I believe we cannot choose to lose in Iraq," he said.

The sobering reality for all those seeking the presidency is that the ultimate decision on when and how to wind down the U.S. mission in Iraq may well fall to one of them. The withdrawal timeline laid out by Petraeus means that, as the general election campaign enters its final months next year, there still may be as many as 130,000 troops left in Iraq.

For now, however, the fierce debate over Bush's policy is what is shaping the presidential campaign dialogue. It is a debate waged not only between the major political parties, as McCain's words suggested, but also among the Democratic candidates. The Petraeus-Crocker hearings offered a chance for the Democratic candidates not just to probe and prod and challenge the assessments and recommendations of the two officials but also to highlight subtle distinctions among themselves, as well.

But their remarks differed in tone and focus, reflecting an uncertainty that has gripped Democrats as they debate how hard to press in the weeks ahead for legislation to force Bush to change strategy.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), a onetime war supporter, has aggressively courted antiwar voters in recent months by advocating a funding cutoff next spring -- the most radical step in the legislative arsenal and one that stands zero chance of reaching the president's desk, at least in the foreseeable future.

"I'm withholding support for proposals without clear timelines in them," Dodd said during a break at the Foreign Relations Committee hearing. "Anything short of that I'll oppose."

Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), like Dodd a veteran lawmaker who lags badly in the presidential polls, delivered a 15-minute introductory statement that demonstrated his extensive knowledge of the conflict and the region and promoted his own solution for Iraq, partitioning the country into separate regions.