Is "the surge" working?

Time may be running out for the Democrats in their effort to surge toward defeat in Iraq.

Via Power Line: Robert Kagan's Washington Post column provides some food for thought:

Leading journalists have been reporting for some time that the war was hopeless, a fiasco that could not be salvaged by more troops and a new counterinsurgency strategy. The conventional wisdom in December held that sending more troops was politically impossible after the antiwar tenor of the midterm elections. It was practically impossible because the extra troops didn't exist. Even if the troops did exist, they could not make a difference.

Four months later, the once insurmountable political opposition has been surmounted. The nonexistent troops are flowing into Iraq. And though it is still early and horrible acts of violence continue, there is substantial evidence that the new counterinsurgency strategy, backed by the infusion of new forces, is having a significant effect.

And, Kagan gives news reporters something to ponder as well:

No one is asking American journalists to start emphasizing the "good" news. All they have to do is report what is occurring, though it may conflict with their previous judgments. Some are still selling books based on the premise that the war is lost, end of story. But what if there is a new chapter in the story?

The terrorists can certainly blow people and things up in various places, but there is reason for us and the Iraqis to hope that the reign of terror in Iraq will dwindle as time goes by.

Can the Democrats find a way to keep this effort from continuing and turn things back to hell on earth for the Iraqis -- and later for us, too? They will certainly try.