You'd think it would be news when the chairman of one of the national parties comes out and says publicly that we can't win the war in Iraq. Apparently not. I can't find any mention of Dean's remark on the web sites of The New York Times or The Washington Post - though both give predictable front page treatment to the story that yesterday that a judge declared Ronnie Earle's original indictment of Tom DeLay totally bogus and without merit (Texas Judge Lets Stand 2 of 3 Charges Against DeLay and DeLay's Felony Charge Upheld).

Anyway, it's clear that a growing number of Democrats in the House now feel confident enough to voice the antiwar sentiment that they've done a poor but diligent job of keeping stuffed in the closet over the last two years. War hero and patriot Jack Murtha was the key that opened the closet door.

The first key tried by the Democrats, the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Senator, who by the way served in Vietnam and who was for the war before being against it, did not work. Nor did the second: the month-long media-inspired spectacle of a mother exploiting the memory of her dead war hero son. But Murtha, despite the utter incoherence he's demonstrated defending his position of late, has given Democrats two things they've never had before: the cover and credibility of a true, living war hero and a shiny new militaryesque sound bite: "strategic redeployment."

Needless to say, the antiwar coming out party of Howard Dean and the House Democratic caucus is causing signficant problems for some Democratic members of the Senate. Poor Hillary is now being "bird dogged" by antiwar activists.  Even hard core progressives with ambitions of leading the country can't bring themselves to get on board. Here's Barack Obama in today's Chicago Tribune:

Sen. Barack Obama said Monday that the Democratic Party was unlikely to reconcile its differences and reach a unified strategy for Iraq, conceding: "The politics and the policy of this may not match perfectly."

As Democrats work to win control of Congress in the 2006 elections, Obama (D-Ill.) said a cacophony of views over the Iraq war threatens to divide the party once again.

"It is arguable that the best politics going into '06 would be a clear succinct message: `Let's bring our troops home,' " Obama said. "It's certainly easier to communicate and I think would probably have some pretty strong resonance with the American people right now, but whether that's the best policy right now, I don't feel comfortable saying it is."

In an interview with the Tribune's editorial board, Obama renewed his opposition to immediately pulling troops from Iraq.

Obama and Clinton are smart enough to at least wait until after the December 15 election in Iraq before deciding whether or not to join the call for "strategic redeployment." At that point the difference between "drawing down forces" and "immediate withdrawal" will be less pronounced and it will be much easier for them to walk through the closet door.