On Thursday, David Swanson posted this remarkable video (transcript here)of Rep. David Obey's explosion at super-polite Marine mom Tina Richards when she asked him about the Iraq War Supplemental:

Today, Obey apologized to Richards via The Hill:

When The Hill contacted him Friday about the videotaped encounter, Obey immediately apologized for getting angry with the woman, saying that his immense frustration about "this stupid war" boiled over.

Of course this is Tina Richards' call, but I would accept Obey's apology because Obey's heart is in the right place and his frustration over "this stupid war" is profoundly felt by all of us.

But I want something in exchange for accepting Obey's apology: I want Rep. Obey to join in a calm and respectful dialogue that will allow us to find common ground to end "this stupid war."

Obey's most important point is that the Supplemental includes language that will end the war.

"The language we have in the resolution ends the authority for the war," he added. "It makes it illegal to proceed with the war. You don't have to de-fund something if the war doesn't exist."

Presumably, Obey is referring to language that

states that the Iraqi government must meet Bush's benchmarks for reform in order for our troops to remain in the region. The legislation sets a deadline for complete withdrawal from Iraq by Sept. 8, 2008, but also states that troops would be withdrawn earlier if Iraqi government fails to satisfy Bush's benchmarks.

The question we have for Rep. Obey is simple: how can that strategy possibly work when Bush will veto the Supplemental or (illegally) nullify that part of it with a signing statement?

If Rep. Obey agrees that his strategy cannot work for that reason, doesn't that leave us with only one strategy, the one embraced by the Progressive Caucus: to restrict the Supplemental to a fully funded withdrawal?

If we were having a calm and respectful conversation, Rep. Obey would find a nicer way to say this:

"We don't have the votes to pass [a resolution]," he yelled. "We couldn't even get the votes to pass a non-binding resolution one week ago. How the hell do you think we're going to get the votes to cut off the war?"

And we would reply: please tell us which Democrats we need to persuade to vote for a fully funded withdrawal. Because a solid majority of Americans want to bring our troops home now, and those Democrats work for their constituents.

Rep. Obey, we are not "idiot liberals." We are the American people, and we want to help you end the war as quickly as possible - if you will only talk to us and work with us as we lobby your colleagues for a fully funded withdrawal.

Rep. Obey, will you join us in this dialogue?