So where does this leave us?
It is significant that the House has laid a marker down with regard to the Afghanistan occupation -- with an appropriate signal about the need for the president to seek congressional approval for further action in the country.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the California Democrat who cast the lone vote in opposition to the 2001 resolution that the Bush and Obama administrations cited as justification for an open-ended "war of terror" that has sent tens of thousands of US troops to Afghanistan, was pleased by the show of backbone.
"I have long called for a responsible and immediate end to the war in Afghanistan and [last week's] congressional action is long overdue," said Lee. "With the passage of this amendment, it's clear that we are turning a corner on the war in Afghanistan. It's long past time for the longest war in America's history to come to an end."
She's right.
But that should not be the end of it.
It is long past time for Congress to fully and unapologetically reassert its role as the branch of the federal government that is supposed to declare wars and to check and balance the administrations that pursue them.
That's true with regard to Afghanistan. But it is equally true with regard to conflicts that are now drawing more and more US attention, including the Syria imbroglio.
So while Congress may be starting to "get it" with regard to Afghanistan, Congress does not yet "get it" with regard to its broader constitutional mandate to declare wars and check and balance all military endeavors.
The new book by John Nichols and Robert McChesney, Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex is Destroying America (Nation Books), is out this week--with an introduction by Senator Bernie Sanders.
The Supreme Court struck down Arizona's voter suppression law. Read Ari Berman's analysis here.
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