At first, Democrats argued that Iraq was no safer because of the surge, then, when evidence of progress mounted, they shifted to arguing that even though the security situation has improved, it has not led to political reconciliation. Senator Carl Levin seems to have shifted his stance faster than most:
You can listen to a portion of the Levin call at the lefty clearinghouse ThinkProgress. It’s disappointing to see Senator Levin note the success of the surge in a press release, only to pronounce it a failure in a conference call mere hours later. But listening to the excerpt shows that the Politico may have missed the nuance of Levin’s position. Levin first says that Maliki has clearly failed and ought to be replaced. Only a few moments later however, Levin says Iraq needs to make progress toward reconciliation “in the next few days.” The Senator is referring to the ongoing discussions between Maliki and leaders of other groups in the Iraqi government on establishing a stable Coalition that can tackle issues like oil revenue sharing, de-baathification, and other benchmarks. It’s a pretty tight time line, but at least one senator has hinted at movement on the political front, saying “there are prospects of political progress in the next couple of weeks.” But it sounds like Levin is only giving the troops til Friday.
