Democrats' loss a victory?

Publius at Obsidian Wings sees the glass half-full where some have seen it half-empty on the loss of the anti-war resolution in the Senate yesterday:

I see a lot of good in the 48-50 Senate "loss." In fact, from the Democrats' perspective, it was a pretty overwhelming victory in that it broke down almost completely on party lines. Let's be honest -- there's no way realistically that Congress can stop the war. Even if it had the votes to pass laws with teeth (which it doesn't), my hunch is that restrictions would be ignored by an administration that sees laws merely as helpful suggestions (more on that point this weekend).

As I've mentioned before, the only way to end the war is to force the people who support it out of office, or to scare the bejesus out of them. The Senate vote goes a long way in doing that because it sets up a very clear distinction for the next election -- Republicans voted for endless war, Democrats didn't. ... "endless war" is a powerful political "narrative" for the next election (and the narrative has the benefit of being accurate and substantive -- i.e., it's not accusing Republicans of being French). Every single Republican save one (including the great Hagel) voted for endless war yesterday. That's important, and it should be advertised.

Here's my fear. The Democrats keep losing these motions and finally give up on them or voluntarily weaken them so much (see Pelosi removing the key language from the House Bill) that they are not worth the paper they are written on. As we close in on 2008, the public begins to think the Democrats are worthless when it comes to ending the war and looks for other candidates. Ralph Nader -- or someone like him -- stands up to become that candidate and sucks enough votes away from the Dems that the Thuglicans win again.