JOANNE JACOBS writes that a new Roll Call article makes the Congressional Democrats look self-serving and spineless on the war. Maybe I’m just in the mood to see the glass as half-full this week, but to me the big news is that even Jerrod Nadler has figured out that the Democrats have a big image problem.

The next step, of course, will be for someone to figure out that to address the image problem, they’ll have to address the substance problem.

UPDATE: David Broder agrees with Joanne about the Democrats:

But there is something deeper — and less justifiable — at work. The Democratic leaders in Congress, in both the House and Senate, largely have abandoned principle and long-term strategy for the short-term tactics they think will help them in this November’s election.

What’s more, Broder says this problem extends beyond the war, encompassing the similar decision to carp at, but not to challenge, Bush’s tax cut: “The Democrats’ refusal to face up to that fundamental issue leaves them without credibility for their entire critique of Bush’s economic policy.”

This seems right to me. (Broder article via Andrew Sullivan).