The Morning Line: President Obama’s Iraq Drawdown Victory Lap

With all the focus on a troubled American military effort in Afghanistan, a battered and stubborn economy at home, and Republican enthusiasm on the rise, it seems like a long time ago that American politics of 2006 and 2007 were primarily centered on the Iraq war.

On Monday, President Obama heads to Georgia to address veterans at 11:30 a.m. EST and to highlight his bringing combat operations in Iraq to an end.

“As a candidate for president, I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end. Shortly after taking office, I announced our new strategy for Iraq and for a transition to full Iraqi responsibility. And I made it clear that by August 31, 2010, America’s combat mission in Iraq would end. And that is exactly what we are doing — as promised, on schedule,” Mr. Obama plans to say according to his prepared remarks.

It is important to remember that President Obama not only called the Iraq war a “dumb war” at a Chicago anti-war rally in 2002, but made his opposition to the Iraq war his calling card during the Democratic presidential primary season and forcefully opposed the surge in January 2007, which many observers see as instrumental to bringing Iraq’s security to a place to allow this drawdown of American troops to 50,000.

“Well, I have to commend the president for basically, once the election was over, ignoring my counterpart Senator Reid, who said the war was lost in 2007, and basically ignoring his own campaign rhetoric in 2008 and adopting the program of the Bush administration to wind down the war, ” Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“In fact, the agreement with the Iraqis to go down to 50,000 troops was made under the previous administration. So I commend the president for continuing the policies. He continued Secretary Gates, continued the policy in Iraq. And I think we’ve made progress, although it’s still very difficult there because the bombings continue,” he added.

With Iraq receded in the American consciousness, President Obama walks a fine line of highlighting the success in winding down one war without reminding Americans about his escalation of another one that doesn’t appear to be going according to plan.

DOUBLE DOSE OF ETHICS WOES

What could be worse politically for House Democrats than one of its long-time members facing a public ethics trial before Election Day? The answer: having two long-serving legislators fighting ethics charges at open House hearings this fall.

That scenario became more likely over the weekend, when it was reported that 10-term Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., had chosen to go through an ethics trial like the one facing Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Waters, like Rangel, decided not to seek a settlement with House ethics investigators that would have involved some admission of wrongdoing.

The investigation of Waters, 71, stems from allegations she sought to steer $12 million in federal bailout funds to a bank with ties to her husband. Waters has denied the charges.

Rangel, who is now serving his 20th term in office, is accused of 13 violations related to his solicitation of funds for a center named after him at City College of New York, misuse of a rent-controlled New York apartment as a campaign office, failure to account for more than $600,000 on House financial disclosure forms and mishandling taxes on rental income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic.

The Harlem Democrat took to Twitter Sunday to post an audio recording in which he said he’d discovered “some mistakes” but that he hoped the “ethics committee process will move forward without a rush to judgment.”

But, calls for Rangel to resign have steadily grown in recent days. Rep. Michael Arcuri became the first Democrat from New York to urge Rangel to “think about stepping down, because this situation is beginning to affect our ability to govern.”

And Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., told the Louisville Courier-Journal, “If the charges are factually true, and I have no reason to believe that they’re not, then he should leave.”

Even President Obama signaled in an interview with CBS News that the allegations were “very troubling.” The president also said of Rangel, “he’s somebody at the end of his career, 80-years-old. I’m sure he wants to be able to end his career with dignity and my hope is that happens.”

Republicans sought to use the Rangel matter to launch a broad attack on Democrats. Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” House Minority Leader John Boehner laid blame squarely on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“Nancy Pelosi said four years ago that it was time to drain the swamp,” Boehner charged. He continued: “The fact is she has not kept her promise. The swamp is alive and well.”

Pelosi defended her record on ethics in an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” saying Democrats fulfilled their promise to drain the swamp. When asked about her relationship with Rangel, Pelosi said, “Any personal respect and affection we may have for people makes us sad about the course of events, but we have to pull the high ethical standard and none of our personalities is more important than that.”

THE MONEY TRAIL

If you missed some weekend reading, be sure to check out the New York Times off-lede by Jeff Zeleny in Sunday’s paper.

President Obama appears to realize he may be most helpful to vulnerable Democrats by staying away from their districts.

And the White House political operation is stepping up its deployment of the president to raise that all important campaign cash. Be sure to check out his nearly one dozen campaign fundraising events over the course of the next two and a half weeks.

The Times also notes that Michelle Obama’s fall campaign role has yet to be determined.

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