Supplemental deserves a "yes" vote from progressives

(NOTE FROM JOHN: AJ, as some of you may recall, is a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who spent two years working on Iraq, during the war. He's spent a good deal of time there, knows the issues, knows the reality on the ground and in DC.)

All House members who want to begin repairing the damage done by the Iraq war, and certainly all Democrats -- strong progressives included -- should vote yes on the supplemental bill scheduled for a vote tomorrow.

The bill isn't perfect. It isn't even great. But it's the right first step. With apologies for the sports metaphor, you can't always hit a home run. To get to the plate, sometimes you have to settle for a single because otherwise you won't get anything at all. Once you're on base, you can build from there, but if you strike out, that's it. This is not a conservative bill and it's not a progressive bill, it's the product of what I can only imagine were herculean efforts by Pelosi, Rahm, and others to corral a variety of opinions and constituencies behind a very public statement that President Bush is mismanaging the war and it needs to come to a close.

Moral victories were okay when Democrats were in the minority, but now we need to govern. Democrats have made great strides on a wide variety of issues, and it's now time to take action on Iraq. None of this will end with one vote, and the right move is to take the long view rather than taking a stand against compromise and against legislative movement in the right direction, however incremental it might be.

When you have David Sirota ("So what should wavering progressive lawmakers do? Play hardball, then proudly hold your head up and vote 'yes.'") and MoveOn advocating the bill's passage, you know it has progressive legitimacy.

I empathize with Representatives who want to vote no, I really do. I don't impugn their motives and I believe they are trying to do the right thing. The bill isn't what many hoped for, and it won't end the war in one fell swoop. But legislating is about the art of the possible, and compromise, and cost/benefit. If you're a progressive, the right vote is "yes."