Will it Lead?

You'll notice at the top of the site, we have tag clouds for "leading" and for being "in the way." The name of the leader gets bigger with each action they take on way or anther. To earn a spot in the Lead category you have to really mean it. How do I decide who really means it? Basically, it's based on past behavior combined with the current rhetoric and how shocking and leaderly it looks to be. That's right, leaderly. I learned that from Monsieur Colbert. Anyways, the reason I bring this up is that the Democratic leadership, which has managed to choke every single time they have been called to lead sounds like they are ready to step up finally, and be, well, "leaderly."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that Democrats won't approve more money for the Iraq war this year unless President Bush agrees to begin bringing troops home.

By the end of the week, the House and Senate planned to vote on a $50 billion measure for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would require Bush to initiate troop withdrawals immediately with the goal of ending combat by December 2008.

If Bush vetoes the bill, "then the president won't get his $50 billion," Reid, D-Nev., told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., made a similar statement last week in a closed-door caucus meeting.

I haven't added Reid and Pelosi to the leader board, just yet. Since they have a history of choking under pressure, I'm gonna wait till I see their actual actions and see if said actions speak louder than their words. Here's hoping.