Solutions-Based Leadership
by dday
First off, Digby is busy taking back America at the aptly named Take Back America conference. So if you’re in Washington, go over to the Omni Shoreham and say hello. If not, for the next few days I’ll be holding down the fort over here, along with tristero should he choose to weigh in.
Second, I’m going to be trickling this out as the day progresses, and we have to wait until 5:30pm ET for the official release of the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq. But I’ve collected a bunch of video from the Congressional candidates who have currently signed on and the military leaders who were instrumental in its creation.
Eric Massa, NY-29:
A compendium of all the candidates who have signed on thus far.
In addition, here’s an excerpt from Chellie Pingree, from ME-01, writing about the plan at the Huffington Post:
Let me be clear: we have to stop the war and end our occupation of Iraq. More “surges” or “pauses” won’t solve anything. But we need a plan — a responsible plan to not just end military operations in Iraq but to also start putting our efforts into using non-military means to address the political, economic and humanitarian problems in the region. At home we have to rebuild a broken military and repair our institutions of government. The checks and balances built into our Constitution must be restored and we must restore our commitment to an independent media.
The problems that the Iraq War has created are complex and reach into every corner of our society. The solutions are complex, too, but within our reach. Working with Darcy Burner (candidate in WA-08) and Donna Edwards (candidate in MD-04) we have developed a package of policy proposals that, if elected, we will work to pass in Congress. The Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq goes well beyond ending military activity in Iraq — it includes proposals that not only get us out of Iraq, but begin to repair the damage the war has done to our economy, our society and our standing in the world. We have also focused on what went wrong in the run up to the invasion, with the goal of preventing a future Administration and Congress from getting us into another unjustified, indefensible, misguided war.
I heard from Darcy Burner yesterday at a conference held by the New Organizing Institute, and I’m reading over the plan in more detail now. As I said, I’ll have more later, but let me just say that, speaking for me only, the amount of support a candidate for Congress or the White House will get from me, in terms of dollars, volunteer time, online organizing, precinct walking, etc., is largely predicated on whether or not they support this plan. This is non-negotiable.
Again, more on this in a bit.
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