Policy Change

Since the November 2006 elections, where the Democrats regained control of the House and the Senate, many have wondered why there has been no policy change in regards to Iraq. There could be, and I’m sure are, multiple answers to this inquiry, but in my opinion the answer is fairly simple. It’s not as easy as people think to drastically change a policy such as the war in Iraq. Within the House and Senate there are many committees and subcommittees that the representatives must work through, and work within order to get anything significant done. This can be a difficult process, and can take a lot of time. This can also lead to policy looking different when it comes out of the committee than when it enters it, due to the influence of other members of the committees. Another reason why there has been no big policy change is because the Republicans still hold the White House. President Bush and the Republicans still are in the White House, and are still firm believers in the Iraq policy, and the old “stay the course” mentality. For the members of Congress this can be a very hard situation to deal with. It’s hard to pass any sort of big sweeping change in policy when the White House and the President are against you. This can lead to deadlock on certain issues and makes it very difficult for the Congress to pass anything too significant. Also, when dealing with a policy shift as big as an Iraq one would be, one must be careful. To do anything too drastic, too quickly could have adverse effects. The U.S. cannot simply just get up one day and walk away, which it seems is what some people thought would happen once the Democrats won in 2006. It can’t happen that way. It must be a slower, more thought out process. But that being said, even though the Democratic victories in ‘06 didn’t lead to a policy change in Iraq, no matter what party wins the White House in ‘08 expect there to be some policy changes at that time.