"Timetables"

Trapper John on Kos:

The Republican Party used to like to portray itself as the efficient party, the party that could make the trains run on time. (Some Republicans still try to cultivate this image, despite their manifold faults.) But how can you make the trains run on time, or successfully manage any task, without a timetable, or a schedule? Just ask America's most noted scheduling/time management cult leader guru and noted Republican Stephen Covey: you must "learn to plan your weeks and organize your days so you can accomplish the things that matter most to you." Yet in recent years, Bush has become nearly as enamored with rejecting timetables for withdrawal from Iraq as he is with mindlessly parroting "9/11! 9/11!" Surely, this refusal to engage in sensible planning is not one of the Seven Habits of the Highly Effective Decider. Thankfully, the current crop of Democratic presidential candidates are far more attuned to "sharpening their saws," or whatever Covey would call it -- they're adopting pragmatic, reasonable timetables for the withdrawal of American forces. (I'd just call it common sense.) Today's Washington Post has an analysis of where some of the Dems are with regards to timelines; I thought that I'd expand on that, and check out each candidate's position on a simple, yet critical, question: Do you have a time table for complete withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq?

(Candidates listed roughly in order of their standing in otherwise meaningless national polls, so as to avoid the appearance of favoritism.)

Hillary Clinton: Wants troops out before Bush leaves office in January 2009. 23 months.

Barack Obama: Issued plan for total withdrawal by March 31, 2008. 14 months.

John Edwards: Complete withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq within 12-18 months. 18 months.

Bill Richardson: Total withdrawal by the end of 2007. 11 months.

Joe Biden: Withdraw most troops by the end of 2007, but "maintain in or near Iraq a small residual force -- perhaps 20,000 troops" indefinitely. Kinda sorta 11 months, but not really.

Chris Dodd: No timetable that I could locate.

Wesley Clark. No timetable that I could locate.

Tom Vilsack: Immediate withdrawal. "The war must end, and our troops must be brought home now, not eventually but immediately." Immediate.

Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel: Immediate withdrawal. Immediate.

There you have it. There's a pretty broad range of timetables from which to pick -- and even if you don't like some of them, you've got to applaud the Dems who have developed a timetable for having the courage to present a real plan, instead of committing to an open-ended disaster.
Vote in the Poll

Which candidate's timetable for total withdrawal looks best to you?