Clinton proposal woefully insufficient

So sayeth Publius, who is now hanging his hat at Obsidian Wings:

Perhaps stung by the Iraq criticisms, Hillary Clinton has demanded that Bush come to Congress before taking any action against Iran. I don’t disagree with that position, but it’s woefully insufficient. Look, we’ve seen this play before. Democrats who opposed the Iraq war in 2002 but wouldn’t say so tried a procedural gambit -- “come get authorization” -- and hoped Bush wouldn’t call their bluff. Well, he did, and the Democrats folded. The dynamics are no different in the Iran debate. Putting all your eggs into a procedural bluff is a bad idea.

Democrats — including Clinton — need to take an actual position on the merits of war with Iran. They can’t avoid it and hope it goes away by relying on procedural objections, or on pro forma “all options on the table” statements. If you want the Iran war to go away, you have to make it clear that political harm will follow any such war.