Congress can show president how U.S. democracy works« Thread Started on Jul 15, 2007, 9:28pm » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Congress can show president how U.S. democracy works July 14, 20079 Comments read at source> http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs. ... NPresident Bush was in classic form at his press conference Thursday, portraying the situation in Iraq in the most simplistic of terms.We've heard it all before. But there was something new, an acknowledgment that there is sentiment among a growing majority of the American people, including members of the president's own party, for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Yet, the president remains stubbornly defiant: I won't make decisions about how to conduct the war based on opinion polls, he said. The only legitimate role for Congress is appropriating money for the war, and the only advice he will listen to is from the "generals on the ground" in Iraq.That is an interesting position for a man who insists he wants to bring democracy to the people of Iraq.What about democracy for the people of America?The genius of the American democratic process is that truth resides among "We, the people...," not a single chief executive, and certainly not military generals. Whatever popular mandate the president may have believed he had for invading Iraq, it has long since evaporated. And, while Bush might be right that he should have a free hand to conduct war, the Constitution gives Congress sole authority to authorize war. Support for this war is rapidly eroding in this Congress.