From an article in today’s TheHill:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday that Congress cannot end the war in Iraq without President Bush’s approval.
Voters, she told Fox News Sunday, “want it to end and they had expectations that Congress could end it.”
But, she added, “You know we can’t without a presidential signature.”
That is a difference in tone from the defiant stand she took when campaigning for Congress and when she took over as speaker.
However, the statement is part of Pelosi’s campaign to educate voters on the complex political obstacles Democrats face on the Iraq issue and reduce the expectations that she says have left those voters disappointed with Congress.
But Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson challenged Pelosi’s assertion just a little later Sunday.
When she assumed office earlier this year Pelosi was hell-bent on ending the war. Period. Now she must back off because she is finding that backing up her promise is not as easy as it seems. She stuck her foot in her mouth and is probably going to require some advanced surgical procedures to get it out. So if you see her limping around Washington in a few weeks you will understand why.
