Although Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on "Fox News Sunday", 70 percent of the American people feel the Iraq War is misguided and although a March 31 Newsweek magazine poll cited that 57 percent of Americans support the U.S. Senate's plan to set a March 2008 deadline for troops to withdraw, the U.S. Senate leadership are talking as if  they are backtracking from what some might feel is a position of strength.

Sen. Carl Levin, (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, emphasized that defunding was off the table during his appearance on ABC's "This Week." Levin said, "We're not going to vote to cut funding, period."

Despite some posturing by others, Levin suggested that cutting off funding is not an option although the liberal Democratic caucus is in favor of that position.  Levin referred to the Senate Majority Leader by saying "Harry Reid acknowledged that that's not going to happen. He has a personal position, which he said was not the caucus position. He was very clear when he joined a bill which would cut off funding under certain circumstances."

As a result of the Sunday talk shows, it appears that the Democrats do not want to appear as if they have stopped the war.  It also appears that President Bush’s threat of veto of emergency war appropriations legislation is working and the Senate will fund the Iraq war with the hope of making concessions first.

In making these concessions, the Democrats feel that their strategy that could put Bush into a corner.  After Bush vetoes the current legislation that will be finalized in conference, Levin said, "there's a number of options. Either we can keep the benchmarks part of the bill without saying that the troops must begin to come back." Levin also said that if the benchmarks don’t work, "what we will leave will be benchmarks, for instance, which would require the president to certify to the American people if the Iraqis are meeting the benchmarks for political settlement, which they, the Iraqi leaders, have set for themselves."

Schumer put it a different way.  He said." his party is trying to compromise with the White House, by supporting the troops and yet changes the strategy in Iraq.   

Which means despite the polls that show the American people are clueless as it relates to some type of “end game” for Iraq, the Democratic leadership could try to shift the burden on Bush and depict him with not supporting the troops--if Bush does not go along with the concessions. 

Shifting the burden would be exactly what the Democrats desire after Bush and Cheney have hammered the Democrats claiming they are “underming the war” and “not supporting the troops”.

So, instead of cutting of funding, Levin is claiming``But what we should do, and we're going to do, is continue to press this president to put some pressure on the Iraqi leaders to reach a political settlement.''

Which ultimately could mean the focus will be to put the burden on Iraq rather than the President but leaving the door open to making Bush look bad if he fails to accept the compromise position in a climate where America wants change in Iraq. 

Schumer said, ``We will try to come up with a way by talking with the White House, trying to compromise with the White House that both supports the troops and yet changes the strategy in Iraq''.

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But, Arizona Republican, Senator Jon Kyl, doesn’t like the compromise strategy and feels the troops need the money now and that’s it.

According to Kyl on ABC, ``That is a very risky strategy given the fact that every day of delay is a day when we're not sending troops the body armor they need, the Humvees that they need and all of the other things that they need''.

In fact, Kyl feels that the surge is beginning to work although today there was even more violence. 

On CNN’s Late Edition, Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter , a Pennsylvania Republican agrees in part with Kyl and said there were ``some signs of improvement''  yet  noted ``You can't see the end of the tunnel let alone a light at the end of the tunnel,”.   However, unlike Kyl, Spector does advocate more negotiations between Congress and President Bush. 

For at least one Senator, the tunnel is victory.  Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent who caucuses with the Democrats said on CNN, ``it would be a disaster not to try to win'' in Iraq.

``If we lose it, this will become a base for al-Qaeda,'' Lieberman said.