Democrats in Congress and their backers in the blogosphere look forward to another year of pointless debates about the Iraq war, with Congress unable or unwilling to influence the course of events. Liberals argue that Democrats can only benefit; that voters won’t view the outcome in Iraq positively enough to punish them for trying to force a retreat. That could turn out to be true. But the lack of achievement by Congress exposes Democrats to a powerful criticism: that they chose to confront the president rather than work with him, and wasted so much time on Iraq that they were unable to address any of the priorities of the American people. If situation in Iraq does not suddenly get much worse, or Congress does not embrace compromise with the president, Democrats will be playing defense in 2008 and Democratic incumbents will pay the price. The 110th Congress is nearing the end of its productive half, and getting ready to begin the election year ‘lame-duck’ half–where traditionally nothing gets done as Members focus on re-election. It’s becoming clear that this will be one of the least productive Congresses in memory. Democrats have enacted a few measures: the minimum wage increase that they blocked while in the minority was finally signed into law, as was a lobbying reform measure that hasn’t changed anything. But the list of what they have not accomplished is much longer. Congress Daily recently summed up what remains for this year:
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