Remember Iraq? Today was the 5th anniversary of the war, and it was marked by peace activists all over the state and country in a myriad of ways from die-ins to peace pillows to MoveOn vigils. It also provided the occasion for the introduction earlier this week of "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq." Aside from the relative merits of any of these particular items is the return of Iraq to the conversation. Headlines have recently been dominated by Elliot Spitzer, Obama and Jeremiah Wright, and generally all manner of things that strikingly lack the substance of- you know- lots of people dying.

Early in the primary cycle, there was a lot of discussion as to whether Iraq was still a major electoral issue. The conclusion that I (among many others) came away with is that people have given up trying to make any sort of change in Iraq so they're spending less time thinking about it. Doesn't mean their position has changed, just means they've accepted it as an unchangeable state of affairs until January 2009. Nobody ever forgets, but as you learn to coexist, a certain brand of urgency is lost.

When that particular sort of complacency sets in, it gets easy to get caught up in the neverending little things that ultimately don't mean a whole lot. The trouble is, when you rise and fall with every "BREAKING" that crosses your path, the broader narratives can sometimes lose potency. Democrats are still, on a fundamental level, running against the party who thinks President Bush should keep it up in Iraq. That President Bush's incompetence provides justification for messing with the Bill of Rights. This is the stuff that goes into the history books decades from now.

Last week I had breakfast with congressional candidate Nick Leibham (CA-50), and in the midst of saying a great many things, he noted the importance of the issue, saying "You cannot talk about anything else in this campaign until you address the war." It's a point that could do with a bit more reinforcement these days. It's one of the most fundamental ways in which Democrats can nail the coffin closed on the Bush era, and quite frankly we owe it to those who have served and those who have suffered to face this thing with more frequency and depth than has recently been in vogue.

For at least one day, we looked up from the trees and took another look at the forest. I hope things like The Responsible Plan keeps the issue in front of people for a while. It's a good conversation to be revisiting.