The importance of the Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq

In a comment on the post "Jeff Merkley endorses plan to end the War in Iraq", Chris Lowe has this to say:

I'm for Novick, but what counts now is where people are at now and what they will do going forward.

The program being advanced in the Responsible Plan is not one calculated to make the more cautious or timorous elements of the Democratic leadership happy & the fact that Jeff Merkley has endorsed it means he has put himself out as a force to change the whipped dog attitude, and to be part of pressure on Obama or Clinton to go further faster than their current plans. That's good for after the primary, either way. While predicting what anyone will actually do is dicey, he certainly isn't hiding his light under a bushel on this one.

Say whatever else you want about it, it means he isn't running as a Rahm Emmanuel Democrat, and that he won't be attacking Novick from the right on this. That's good too.

What might be especially cool would be if Steve & Jeff could use their agreement on this to draw the contrast to Smith. It shows up his express angst but do nothing tactic for the hollow shell it is. Even better if they can punch up emphasis on the economically disastrous consequences of the occupation war, it's contribution to our current economic woes, and the opportunity costs.

In any case, I think Steve needs to make his support for this approach & his reasons known to his supporters, beyond a press release buried below the front page of the website, so we can tell other people about it when they ask.

Discuss.