Of course, there's also the moral point of view…
…and the national security point of view, and some others, I'm sure, but Stuart Rothenberg's mostly right about this from his selected vantage.
First, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill played the issue like a Stradivarius. They forced a vote on a deadline for withdrawal from Iraq, putting Republicans on record supporting the status quo and President Bush, but allowed a subsequent vote to “fund the troops.” That gave their own Members from swing districts the opportunity to demonstrate their support for the military.Mmm, cake!
From a purely political point of view, Democrats had their cake and ate it too.