September 19, 2007 6:52 AM

Two Battles

Sometimes it feels like there is nothing to be done about the mess our country is in. (Well, it never feels that way to Working Assets members who can always do more through our great Act For Change online activism.) There are problems that expand each day, an Administration that seems set on actively making them worse, and a lack of leadership from those that we want to turn to -- those, in fact, who some of us elected precisely to lead us in a new direction.

That's in part what makes today exciting: there are two specific actions that could make a different on battles Working Assets members have been fighting for awhile: changing the course of the war and restoring our Constitution.

The first is the work of what's being called the Webb Amendment -- a proposal by Virginia's freshman Senator and military veteran to ensure troop readiness...that is, the radical idea that troops should be trained, resources and properly rested before sent into the war zone.

This idea shouldn't be so controversial. However, hawks know it will reveal the over-extended weakness this Occupation has seeded in our forces. It fell 4 votes short of filibuster-proof status last time, but this time there's a chance.

After you check out Senator Webb's video on the topic, make sure you take action -- this proposal deserves to pass...or at the very least deserves a debate to expose those who oppose supporting out troops.

The other big move today is one that we've been waiting for over these past months...and one we still can't quite believe we'd have to vote on: a push to restore Habeas Corpus. As Will posted yesterday, there's a great tool to tell you whether your elected representatives support the Constitution. Check it out:

...then (and you saw this coming), don't just fret, but take action.

Why are both of these actions occurring at once? Whence comes the sudden spine that war opponents and Constitution lovers have found at last? I don't know the timeline of Washington well enough to say whether there's any reason in the Congressional calendar for this.

I do know that it shows real leadership: from Webb and Hagel on troop readiness, from Dodd and Leahy on Habeas. The leadership comes from very different sources. Webb is new to the Senate; Dodd is one of our lifers there. Webb is thought by some to be a more conservative voice for his party; Dodd is a man who comes from the more "liberal" northeast. Webb is in the first year of his cycle; and Dodd, of course, is running for higher office.

So what this should tell us is that leadership shouldn't just come from the senior Senators, the safe seats, or the national candidates -- it can come from anyone -- and we should expect it to come from everyone...including our own Senators and Reps however new, old, left, right, safe or ambitious they may be.