EVANS & NOVAK

Iraq: Although violence continues in U.S.-occupied Iraq, signs are emerging that the American war effort there is paying off, and that it could cease to be

1) Democrats have recently adopted a talking point of demanding of the President a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. This was a key feature of the Democratic response to Bush's State of the Union address. But now a key liberal Democrat, Sen. Hiflary Clinton (D.-N.Y.), has broken ranks with the party. She disowned and criticized that demand recently, stating that such a timetable would only encourage terrorists and weaken the hand of the nation's new democratically elected government.

2) This marks the first time there has been any serious bipartisan consensus over the conduct of the Iraq War since the March 2003 invasion. Part of this is a reflection of Clinton's political ambitions. She has of late sought to moderate her positions, and now even her criticism of Bush, in order to seize the political center. Looking back over the last two election cycles, it is abundantly clear that Democrats' incessant and often petty criticism of Bush for every act of his administration has not helped their cause politically. Clinton may now be charting a different course and at the same time differentiating herself from her party's key figures-her main rivals for the 2008 presidential nomination.