-Many, many Americans contacted their representatives and made their -arguments against the war, by calling, e-mailing, faxing, writing, -lobbying in person, using civil disobedience, holding demos and -vigils, etc. Regardless, Congress already passed the resolution -giving Bush the power to make war on Iraq unilaterally:
Oh God- the "bring the war home" strategy was also such a success. Piss people off until they stop bombing.
If Bush is going to invade Iraq, the left can do nothing and that phase of conflict will be over too quickly for "social costs" to matter. The question then will be what happens next, which will require more political rounds.
There is no overwhelming mandate for military action-- the response of the Dems was to elect as minority leader in the House the leader of the antiwar mobilizing against Bush's resolution. For what punditry is worth, most pundits think the Dems lost by failing to establish clear differences with the White House.
Having just pushed out Gephardt and gotten an antiwar Democrat installed as head of the Democratic Caucus in the House, why would anyone think that politics is irrelevant to what needs to happen?
-- Nathan Newman