WASHINGTON — The new Democratic proposals for Iraq may eventually be weakened or killed, but in one stroke they have transformed a many-sided debate about the conflict into a sharp-edged argument about the endgame.
Ever since the midterm election signaled deepening public unhappiness with the war, Republicans have urged a push toward victory while Democrats have complained about the administration's course but not gathered around a single alternative.
Now, the Democratic mainstream has made its decision and offered the public a choice: Follow the president's plan to use U.S. combat troops indefinitely, or shift American soldiers to a secondary role and begin withdrawing them.
President Bush and Republican loyalists believe the public, despite its unhappiness with the war, will stop short of trying to intervene in the management of the war in a way they say risks defeat.
"This is like Lyndon Johnson, picking targets for the Air Force in Vietnam. The public won't go for it," one senior House Republican aide predicted.
But the Democratic leadership, after weeks of a shifting intramural argument, has decided that the best indicator of America's mood came in the November election.
Ever more Americans indicate they are eager to get out now. A USA Today-Gallup poll released this week showed that 60% favor setting a deadline for U.S. troops to leave by the end of next year.
As public opposition has grown, pollsters say it has been a general rule of American history that public support for wars erodes steadily -- and irreversibly -- as time passes.
"The Democrats are offering a clear choice; they have found their brand," said a second congressional aide, who declined to be identified under office rules. "They're now the 'out soon' party, if not the 'out now' party."
The Democratic proposals reverse roles they and the president have had for months. Bush has been able to argue that he offered a specific plan while congressional critics offered only vague criticism.
Now the Democrats have staked out a specific position while the administration peers into the uncertain future with an open-ended commitment. That puts Bush under new pressure to tell the public which way he will go next.
The recast debate on Iraq has other undeniable political overtones.
For starters, it will have immediate effects on the presidential race -- building newfound pressure on candidates to argue for or against withdrawal.
